


A Favor from Mythal

by mscrutherford



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bigotry, Discrimination, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss/First Time, Hurt/Comfort, Light Smut, Lyrium, Minor Original Character(s), Original Characters - Freeform, Slow Burn, Spoilers, Substance Abuse, UST, black lotus - Freeform, hfn, minor original character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-03 14:36:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14571108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mscrutherford/pseuds/mscrutherford
Summary: A Dalish tribe found a human baby, they raised her like an Elf. No one knew what her fate was when she sought refugee at Skyhold.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone,  
> This is my first attempt to write a fan fiction and I am a fresh member of this community. I hope you like it. Constructive criticism and comments are always welcome.

The leader of Dalish elven clan, Sarren's birthday celebration was going well as the sunset painted the sky in red. They camped on the grounds, arranging their aravels which are the large wagons with wheels, a triangular sail and a rudder-like tools in the rear in the area that they settled.  Aravels were used as transport vehicles and a house by Dalish.  There was a big bonefire in the middle of the celebration area. They were cautious since humans were living in the area Hallas the big, long-horned goats  used for towing the aravels were grazing around. 

While the musicians of the clan played cheerful songs, a group of men and women were dancing and laughing. The other elves were watching the dancers with their drinks in their hands or talking to each other loudly and laughing to suppress the noisy music. Young people who were already drunk were accompanying the music by singing songs.

Sarren and his wife Shaela were also watching the crowd, standing with a lightly amused expression on their faces. Shaelye knew Sarren did not like dancing,so she had not even offered to her husband. However, she was moving her body slightly to accompany the rhythm of the music due to the joy that was brought by the drink. She occasionally could not help laughing at a group of dancers who struggled to dance drunkenly. No one, including the clan leader and his family, would sit down at the festivities.

This was accepted as a great disrespect since eating and drinking. Sitting idly through the celebrations was only for the leaders of men who called themselves kings The Dalish did not want to sit down and waste their few chances of celebrations, their living conditions had already been difficult without royalty rules.

Sarren was still serious but there was a slight smile on his lips. As a leader, his responsibility was to make sure that the elves in his clan were alive and remain in unity. Despite all his seriousness, he loved to laugh and jokes. Like all the elves, Sarren also had a tall, elegant body. He was carrying the tattoo of Mythal on his long and handsome face. In the Dalish, every man and woman had a tattoo of an elven god on their faces. Sarren had decided to make Mythal’s tattoo on the left side of his face, to the side of his heart when he was young.

The blue cloak he was wearing made his eyes much more darker tone of blue. Those beautiful eyes often made it possible for him to speak out what he wanted to say without talking out loud. Tonight his eyes were gentler than ever, with the effect of his cheerfulness and drink. The smile on his well-shaped lips was sincere.

Sarren shuddered and got out of his thoughts as music and laughters were cut off suddenly. An elderly woman, with a long white hair, walked slowly to the side of the celebration fire. Varosa. She was Shaelya's mother and healer of the clan. Her face had always a very serious, frowned expression. Sarren knew the old woman came from a life full of brutal events and challenges.

Even when she was talking softly, she looked as if she was going to scold someone. Her green eyes were glowing like fire on her face was full of wrinkles. Varosa was not an elf who was good at celebrating. She thought that there was not much to celebrate in their life because she had suffered a lot, including the loss of Shaelya's father. It was why during every celebration she went out of the festive area, and preferred to listen to the music and laughter from afar.

Both Sarren and Shaelya were thinking that it was not good for her to walk so far away, especially in the night. However, the old woman would not listen to their concerns because she faced enough violence and danger in her life. She was very old and she certainle was aware of it. She did not think she had more than a few more years ahead. The worst thing that could happen to her would be her death, and Varosa was not afraid of it anyway. So she walked away during Sarren's birthday as she always did.

Varosa heard some voices by the Halla's grazing area and headed towards there with caution. She approached the animals, she noticed a bump in the grass. Even though it was not clear in the darkness of the night, it seemed as if the bump was moving and murmuring. She went close and bended down. It was a swaddle made out of rags. Inside, a human baby was rolling its arms and muttering. She took the baby in her arms and examined it more closely. The baby was also examining Varosa with its big eyes.

The old woman felt something that she could not put a name on. Whatever it was, this baby was not ordinary, she understood it with her whole being. She looked through the fabrics to see the baby's gender. It was a girl. She seemed calm and peaceful in her arms as if she had known Varosa, looking like smiling at her. Old woman began to walk towards the celebration area with the baby in her arms.

Nobody had ever seen Varosa near the bone fire before. It was a great surprise for everyone as the music interrupted. Moreover, she carried a bunch of rags in her lap. If her hair had not been properly gathered and decorated with graceful jewels, she could have looked like an elderly mad woman. She walked to Sarren and Shaelya with steady steps and stopped towards them.

Sarren was as surprised as anyone else and quietly watched the old woman’s approach. His usual serious and worrying expression returned to his face. He approached Varosa to look at what she was carrying in her lap. He opened the fabrics, and saw the human baby. A muscle twitched on his long chin. Whenever he was very thoughtful and anxious, he unwittingly clenched his jaw. Shaela saw the expression on his handsome face, she moved uneasily.

Sarren looked at the old woman's lap as if looking at a deadly object. "This is a human being," he said softly.

Now it was the time for the crowd to be feared and worried. The objections and comments that first started as a whisper quickly turned into a hum. Sarren lifted a hand to silence the crowd, unable to look away from the baby.

Varosa looked very calm. "I think one of the residents of the castle left this baby on the land. When I saw the pregnant girl of the castle owner, I already knew that she was messing with something. I guess this is the bastard of her and her lover. "

Sarren's clan was a small group of elves trading with people. Because of this, most of the time people allowed their accommodation in their lands for a certain period of time. They continued to live by selling the animals they had hunted and some local materials they had produced. Sarren was in contact with people to sell these materials. Altough Varosa hated humans, she occasionally told women their fortunes to amuse them for money.

She often wanted to tell them the terrible things she saw in their future and to be satisfied with their fears, but she always suppressed this desire. She saw that lover of the castle girl was going to leave her. But she did not remember a sign that she would abandon her baby.

Due to Sarren's excessively protective attitude towards them, nobody from the clan made much contact with humans. However, they owed their presence to this attitude. Sarren commanded the crowd with a certain voice.

 "We need to go now. Prepare the Aravels, now! "

A trouble with humans was the last thing he wanted. Everyone started to rush for preparations, he turned to the old woman and said, "You go and prepare as well. The baby is staying here."


	2. Chapter 2

There was now nothing left of the ancient elven kingdoms of Dales and Elvhenan. The ill fate of elves began when Elvhenan, the first elven kingdom, fell to the Tevinter Empire, the oldest kingdom of people. Many elves had been enslaved. A woman named Andraste and his husband Maferath marched on the Tevinter with their army, and the captive elves under the leadership of Shartan helped them. Andastre had been a prisoner, Shartan was a captive elf. They earned their freedom by fighting shoulder to shoulder.

  
Later on, because of their help during the war, elves were rewarded with lands on the border of the Tevinter empire by the sons of Andraste and Maferath. The elves traveled to those lands on foot and called this journey "The Long Walk".

  
There were many losses during the journey, but they eventually reached the land they were given and set up the Halamshir city there. In their own language, the meaning of this word was "end of the road". They lived in peace and happiness there for three centuries, but humans did not leave them alone here either.  
The teachings of Andastre, the liberator of the captive people of Tevinter, enabled a new religion to emerge among people. This religion was called Chantry and it strengthened with people, began to expand its boundaries over time. It was not possible for the elves to stay away for a long time from the religion of Chantry, which had spread around the Halamshiral.

Elves who were trying to make Elvhenan return to its old days denied this religion in every time in every possible way. Their own gods were enough for them, but this belief made humans more angry. After the events resulting with the heavy losses for the elves, Halamshiral was conquered by humans and the Orlesian empire established in those lands, and began to reign without asking the rightful owners of the land. Some elves who were tired of never ending fight accepted the Chantry religion and tried to mingle with the humans.

  
Some elves never gave up. They continued their cultures and beliefs by taking the name of Dalish. Though they were pushed here and there by people, they continued to exist. Varosa was almost like a symbol of this determination and belief. She also took her part of the violence and anguish of the humans in her life.

  
There was no big army behind Sarren, it had never been, but he was a strong and stubborn man. Dalish consisted of independent clans. If they had a problem, they had no intention of looking at each other's backs. Every clan was trying to survive by themselves. Therefore, the protection of the presence of Sarren's clan needed to avoid from humans.

  
Varosa did not even move in response to Sarren's command to leave the baby behind. "I want to look at this baby’s fortune. I think there is a reason that I found her. " She said with her usual nervous and stubborn attitude

  
Sarren was gradually angry, but tried not to raise his voice as much as he could. He respected Varosa. He didn’t want to raise his voice against woman whom she was coincedentally his mother in-law.

  
"We do not have time for the Rituals. If a person hears this baby's crying and looks at what is going on, then we'll be in big trouble. They’ll think we kidnapped her. " He said in a low voice.

  
Nevertheless, Varosa did not move. Green eyes continued to watch Sarren with piercing looks. "Only the Creators will decide the destiny of this baby. Let them speak. "

  
Sarren helplessly opened his arms. Once the old woman decided to do something, it was impossible to stop or discourage her. Varosa first put the baby to Shaela's arms and then sat down. She took out small animal bones from the pocket of her cloak and said some words in elvish then threw them on the ground.  
Sadly, the magic among the elves seemed to be gone.

They believed that it was the reason from the traitorous god Fen'Harel had trapped other gods in a secret place in the ancient times. Elves collapsed inevitably after they were deprived of the help of their gods and the magic that they created. Varosa was the only one who carried some magic in the clan. They trusted her predictions and fortunetellings as well as herbal remedies that she made.

The old woman whispered. "Mythal!"

  
She hesitated for a moment before touching them with her trembling hands. Then, she rolled backwards as if she was hit by a shock wave and a flood of images were flowing from the bones to her brain. Whites of her eyes were visible under her half-closed eyelids. She moaned, she was trembling and hardly breathing. During this time Sarren and his wife waited patiently. Varosa's contractions gradually diminished and she slowly opened her eyes.

  
"This girl is a good thing for us," she said. “A favor from Mythal. We should definitely take her with us and protect her "

  
Shaelya turned to her husband with the baby in her arms, The hope in her eyes made Sarren sad. Shaelia felt helpless enough to adopt a human baby. Sarren and his wife had never had children. Even Varosa's determined and stubborn treatments and spells did not work in this regard. Since the beginning of their relationship, Shaela wanted a child, but they stopped talking about it as the number of fruitless and heartrending arguments piled in the inventory of their relationship. Sarren also wanted an heir to sustain the clan after he died, though it was not a preference for him to be a human.

The clan would never follow a human because it was obvious where this race dragged them into. Also, the presence of a human who wandered among the elves in the coming years, though not now, would surely draw attention. They were still in Orlais territory belonging to the Orlesian empire. In this case, the existence of a human being between them was just a trouble. But if Varosa was right, he did not want to upset Mythal, the god he believed in, and he wanted Shaelya to give her the most desirable thing in life - a baby to protect and motherhood.

The storm of thoughts in his mind was clearly seen in Sarren’s face.  
Shaelya slid her gaze towards baby. It was very quiet for a human baby, but as far as she could tell it looked perfectly healthy. In the light of the fire she saw that the baby's eyes were in different colors. This should be a sign. If Varosa were right, this gift would bring happiness to the woman at last. She had already begun to rock the baby slowly in her arms murmuring an elvish lullaby.

Sarren sighed desperately and went away. Shaelya followed him without separating her gaze from the baby. Varosa also began to walk towards her own Aravel to leave. Shortly after, the clan left the land in silence.


	3. Chapter 3

Thedas was a dangerous world. Humans also had their own struggles. These times were called "Blight". According to Chantry darkspawn originated from humankind’s sin of pride. Therefore Chantry had to have its own institutions to fight with it. Thus Circle of Magi, Templars and Seekers appeared. These orders under the authority of Chantry had to be under control all the time.

They were using Templars to keep Circle of Magi under control and Templars were controlled by Seekers. This system worked for the good of the majority, but after a while some members of the Circle of Magi, who came to realize that their freedom had been restricted, decided to break the link between them. That's when the great war between the Circle of Magi and the Templar Order who were blindly loyal to Chantry began. This war, which affected the whole world, caused great losses.

  
The Holy Justinian, leader of Chantry wanted to end the war and the sufferings that it brought. So she decided to hold a peace summit at the Temple of Ashes.  
During the peace talks, a dark spawn called Corypheus was about to make a magic ritual to take the place of the ancient gods, who he thought no longer existed, with the help of an ancient elven orb in his hand. His intention was to enter the spiritual dimension of Fade, to realize his dark plans, and to become one god. These plans were ruined by the fact that a brave warrior named Pharon Trevelyan stopped him.

But the interruption of the ritual led to a huge explosion and left a magical mark on the warrior’s arm. The explosion also created a breach in the invisible “Veil” that separated Thedas and Fade from each other. The worst was rifts occured in the Veil all around Thedas. So demonic beings used these rifts to enter in Thedas.

  
Both Corypheus and Pharon survived from the explosion. The warrior did not remember how he got alive from this, just after the explosion he went out from the Breach. The soldiers who found him took Pharon to Cassandra Penthagast, a Seeker, and Leliana, the assistant to Divine Justinia. At the beginning, the warrior, who was met with obvious suspicion, promised them that he would help to end this chaos. And as a result of what he did to keep his word, he gained the trust of Cassandra and Leliana. Now the only aim of those who fought alongside Pharon was to stop Corypheus. People first began to believe that Pharon was sent to them by Andastre since he managed to close the Breach in the sky. Because this was something that no ordinary person or a mage could ever succeed.

  
Unfortunately, the glory lasted a short time. Because Corypheus attacked with a large army and a dragon to Pharon on the town called Haven, which he used as a base in the Frostback mountains. Corypheus wanted to get rid of Pharon as the warrior was blocking his way to glory. While Corypheus’ dragon was sweeping the entire town, Cullen Rutherford, former commander from Templar Order, an experienced strategist and warrior in Haven, realized that they would die one by one if they stood in the town and tried to fight.

  
Few people survived. An elven apostate Solas who traveled with Pharon from the beginning and taught him how to use the mark on his hand, led them to Skyhold, a much safer refuge hidden in the mountains.

  
Skyhold was founded in an area where ancient elves performed their magic rituals. The name of the castle in old elf language is Tarasyl'an Te'las, the place where the sky is kept. In the glorious years, this building belonged to elves but it had changed many owners in later times. When survivors of the Haven catastrophe found it, it was already a ruin, abandoned by the last owners.

Yet, it was safe for the survivors to take shelter, because the stones of the castle still carried the ancient elven magic that was protecting it from the evil forces. Immediately after the arrival in Skyhold, the Inquisition was established, which would give people a sense of security in these desperate times, and overcome perseverance and courage to fight the armies of Corypheus. And Pharon Trevelyan, who was chosen as leader, was given the title of Inquisitor.


	4. Chapter 4

Skyhold was repaired over time and transformed into a magnificent icon of the Inquisition. As the castle doors opened loudly, a small Dalish group walked in through the gigantic walls. A number of Inquisition soldiers were accompanying a group of 10 women and children. They were looking around with great admiration. They had never encountered such a big structure before. There were not many large buildings such as this one in Exalted Plains of Orlais kingdom, where they grew up.

  
Josephine Montilyet and Leliana, who now leads the Inquisition's spies, met the group on the stairs of the main building. Josephine Montilyet was a noble woman from the Antiva country in the north east of Thedas, a master of diplomacy with the necessary connections for the expansion and strengthening of the Inquisition. She joined to Inquisition when her old friend Leliana asked for help.

She was dark brown-skinned, beautiful woman with green eyes. She had tied her black hair up behind her and was wearing a fancy dress. There was a gentle smile on her lips. Leliana standing beside her was the opposite. Even though the dress she wore covered up some of her forehead with a hoodie, her red, flaming hair could be spotted under the hood. Her blue eyes were as serious as her beautiful face. The two women briefly viewed the group standing in front of them. Nurses who survived from Haven or participated voluntarily in the Inquisition later were standing behind them.

  
"Welcome to Skyhold, my friends. Our nurses will accompany you to your tents so you can eat, relax and get the treatments you need, "Josephine said softly. She was speaking in common language called as the King's Tongue, but her slight accent was obvious.

  
Enaste, standing at the head of the elf group, translated what Josephine said to others in Elvish. Through his father and Varosa she had learned the common language.

  
While Enaste was talking to the others, Leliana followed her quietly. Like the other elves in the group, the leather garments she wore were miserable. There were several patches on her stained leather pants and her leather jacket was repaired with ropes or cloths. The cloth bag, which had been filled with some family belongings and stale food, was hanging crosswise from her right shoulder. Her bow and arrow bag were hanging on her left shoulder. Her long, leather boots were almost torn. She had tied her long brown hair behind, but it was now in an oily and tangled state. There were stains on her face, possibly mud and blood.

  
The young girl had an ordinary, thin, long face. She was neither beautiful nor tall like other Elves. Despite all her tiredness, she had an elegant and agile image. The only thing that was not ordinary about her was the eyes under her slightly thick eyebrows. One of her eyes was blue and the other one was brown.  
After finishing the talk, Enaste took a step to go with the group to the tents with the nurses. Leliana then called her by name.

  
"We will see you in the War Room after you tidy yourself up." Leliana said.

  
Enaste and remaining members of her clan miraculously came across Inquisitor Pharon when they reached the Emprise du Lion hills which was located on the west of Skyhold. The warrior who saved their lives there sent them along with the soldiers to Skyhold and sent the news to the castle. The only thing the young girl did not know was that the Inquisitor wrote about her to Leliana.

  
In a part of his letter to castle, he wrote about Enaste as, "Very agile and very skilled at archery. Just like an elf hunter. It may be a great contribution to the education of our archers at Skyhold. Of course there would be a price to include her in the Inquisition.”

  
Pharon was a warrior, and the Inquisitior so he had millions of tasks to handle as leader; writing detailed reports or letters was not his style. For this reason, when Leliana shared his writings with Josephine and Cullen, they decided to call Enaste to the War Room and listen to the story from her.

  
After Enaste approved Leliana with her head, she followed the nurses. Two big tents were built under the magnificent main building of the castle. They were at the opposite side of the stables next to castle gates. They split into two and entered the tents with the nurses. Great mattresses were prepared for them to stay in the tents and clean garments were left on each of the matress. Enaste approached one of them. There was a large bowl of hot water on the floor and a piece of cloth left to wipe her body.

A young nurse came to help her dress up and clean. Enaste pulled out her clothes that were almost turned into rags, soaking the piece of cloth next to the bowl and slowly rubbed everywhere in her body that her hands could reach. There were scratches and bruises on her legs and arms left from the tough journey she had overcome. The young girl next to her took the cloth from her and began to wipe her back. Her moves were gentle to avoid any bleeding from the scrapes and bruised wounds.

  
"Let's wash your hair," She murmured with a friendly voice, then walked out of the tent, smiling. "You can dress while I gather the necessities."

  
Enaste looked at the simple clothes made of thick fabrics on the bed. First she wore the undergarment with long sleeves and skirts made of linen. Then she wore the thick, blue tunic knitted from wool. The young nurse came with a large pitcher, she had emptied the big bucket they had used to clean her body, put it in front of Enaste, and asked the young girl to lean forward.

  
After cleaning and dressing finished, Enaste looked inside her cloth bag and pulled out a small, wooden bottle. She took a few drops from it on her fingers and touched to her neck. Then a wonderful flower scent filled inside the tent.

  
The young nurse was very surprised, sniffing the air. "What is this?" 

  
“My mother used to make this scent for herself." Enaste said with a painful smile on her face.

The Dalish knew many natural herbal remedies. Through Aravels they could go to the far points in Thedas and collect different plants, flowers and seeds. Enaste’s clan also knew which plants were good in general, and even those who grew up as hunters, like her, had to know the important medicinal herbs that they needed in order to survive any disease or injury during the long hunts. Enaste's mother was curious about the scents.

When she was a child, she insisted Varosa to teach her about making perfumes. Varosa prepared some scents and incenses from time to time for some rituals, but it was never a very important job for her. She had taught her daughter the basics of perfume making. After that, Shaela began to make perfumes to remember the smells of flowers that were grown in the places they had been visited. After Shaela died, Enaste was trying to keep her memory alive by wearing her perfume, making the incense for continuing her legacy.

  
Enaste started to feel a little better after she got ready. There were large waves in her long, brown hair. She looked much more elegant and feminine with her clothes on.

  
The nurses, after taking care of everyone cleaned up the mess and left the tents. Two young boys brought some food with their trays immediately after. When the meal was finished, four women in the tent fell into a deep sleep. One of them had a little girl named Neren. At the end of their horrific journey, she had lost her ability to speech. For a while she watched Enaste thoughtfully, laying beside her mother and then fell asleep. Enaste was in deep thoughts as she was watching the sleeping little Neren, so she had not noticed the young soldier who came into the tent until he cleared his throat with a loud voice.

  
"They are waiting for you in the War Room." He barked and then turned back to leave the tent.

Enaste followed him in silence, they went to the high stairs leading to the main building. The inside of the building seemed at least as grand as the outside. There was a large red carpet on the floor of the main hall. In the walls, the flags with the Inquisition symbol were hanging symmetrically. The lights of the torches were illuminating.

  
After they walked a little, they entered a large room from the wooden door on the left towards to Josephine's study room. It was the place where she recorded the decisions taken in the War Room or any work to be done. Josephine’s desk was at the bottom of the window to take advantage of the daylight as she wrote. The shelves inside the rooom were full of books. The soldier took Enaste to the end of the room, opened a door there. After passing a long corridor together, they came to the front door of the War Room.


	5. Chapter 5

The War Room was at least as large as Josephine's room and was getting more daylight thanks to its large windows. There was a massive table carved in the middle. A map of Thedas was spreading on it. Various metal figures were placed on the big map. Behind the table, there was a library full of leather-bound books on its shelves. Leliana, Josephine and Cullen were sitting on the wooden chairs behind the table.

There was a chair on the other side of the desk for Enaste. Josephine had a sincere smile on her face and said she should sit down gently by showing her chair. The young girl sat in a timid attitude.

 "I am Josephine Montilyet," said Josephine with a warm tone of voice. “I am Inquisitor's diplomacy and policy advisor, Leliana is specialized in personal connections, Cullen is the war and strategy advisor. And of course the Commander of Inquisition army. I guess you only did not meet Cullen so far. "

When Cullen Rutherford bowed, Enaste responded by tipping her head. She did not think she could talk. Due to her shy personality she tried not to show that she had fancied him since he was a very handsome man stood in front of her. Commander was a man in his thirties. He had blond wavy, short cut hair and light brown eyes. Those eyes were really discouraging under his frowning eyebrows. There was a scar on his left upper lip. He was wearing a shiny metal armor and there was a red cloth vest decorated with long black feathers on it. Enaste assumed that this vest represented his leadership rank.

Enaste had experienced the disadvantages of her appearance throughout her life as a person who grew up among the elves. The women and men of the elf race generally had a tall, thin but well-built body. So they looked elegant. There are a lot of beautiful women and handsome men in the elf race. Enaste was despised enough in the clan because of her relatively short size, slightly wide hips and a face that could not be described as beautiful also among humans.

Thanks to his father and mother, the exclusion had not gone beyond some verbal teasings or allusive looks. She proved her competence as a hunter and when she got the title of master, she ensured that many clan members would shut their mouths and control their gaze. Yet her shy and silent nature was a work of this exclusion. She felt uncomfortable with handsome men or beautiful women. She felt the same discomfort as she was sitting infront of Inquisitor's advisors.

Cullen could not imagine that the young girl with an ordinary look could be so talented to impress Inquisitor. The only thing that attracted attention on her face was her eyes shining like jewels in two different colors. When she entered the room suddenly a wonderful flower scent filled the room. There were no women among the common folk using perfumes except for noblewomen. Enaste should have been a reminiscent of a nobleman with an elegant and proportionate body altough she is not one of them.

She sat with a great elegance on her chair. Her movements were like an elf. Her long face surrounded by wavy, brown hair that poured on her shoulders. Cullen found himself momentarily looking at Enaste's thin, long neck. As soon as he realized what he was doing, he quickly changed his position in the chair, to hide his face blushing from shame. He only hoped that his short glance would have escaped from Josephine and Leliana's sharp eyes. He relaxed by seeing that they did not look at him when he looked at out of the corner of his eye. After Enaste had saluted him, she did not look back to where Cullen was again.

"Inquisitor Pharon did not have the opportunity to talk to us in detail. So we wanted to get to know you more closely and listen to your story from your mouth, If we can get to know you more closely, I think we can find very appropriate duties in the Inquisition for you." Leliana said to the young girl hoping to end her tension. 

Josephine was writing on a notepad with a quill pen. She approved Leliana with her head without lifting it from the notepad.

Enaste did not know where to start. Talking, telling someone to something was definitely not among her abilities. Suddenly she remembered her grandmother Varosa. How much she wanted to be like her! When they were children, they gathered with their siblings and friends and sat down. Varosa told them the heroic stories of the elves and the gods.

The Dalish conveyed their cultures with stories, poetry and songs. The grandmother told these stories so sincerely and lively that all of the children would travel to their ancestors’ times. Perhaps some stories had been heard many times. In such a story, if Varosa made a mistake, one of the children certainly warned her with a loud voice and would correct the old woman's mistake. Then she continued to her story as if nothing had happened. If there was an important decision to make in the clan, Varosa would honestly speak her ideas infront of her nervous father. Or when she talked to humans, she could keep her calmness despite of humiliating and cynical attitudes or conversations. And the old woman never liked to talk. Unfortunately, she died before teaching this ability of her to Enaste.

Enaste took a deep breath and began to speak.

"We are a friendly clan who trade with people." She hesitated for a moment, and since some clan members were still alive, she probably did not have to use past time. "Our clan had been living in Exalted Plains for generations, and I was born and raised there. "

"How old are you?" Leliana asked.

"Twenty," Enaste said with a defensive tone of voice.

She stood up on her chair and lifted her chin up slightly. She knew that she looked younger. She heard it in Emprise du Lion. That's why she was defensive. Even the Inquisitor Pharon could not believe that he was twenty years old when he first saw her. Elves lived a little longer than humans, and perhaps some remaining antique elf magic made them look young.

Enaste was human, but she might have affected by the elven magic somehow because she grew up in a Dalish clan.

"Please continue," said Leliana she said softly but her unpermissive aura was filling the air.

"Because of our good relations with people, we were allowed to stay and hunt in some human lands. My father told me that they camped near a human castle on the day I was born, they were celebrating his birthday. That night my grandmother Varosa had found me abandoned around the camp. Grandma told me that my father did not want me in the clan in the first place since I was a human. "

"How did they adopt you?" Leliana asked, not hiding her curiosity.

Enaste shrugged her shoulders since she did not know the clear answer to the question. Varosa shared the whole images that she saw in her mind with only her daughter, and part of the prophecy with Sarren. The old woman told Shaelya not to tell anyone the prophecy until death. Shaelia had already decided to remain silent because of the fear she felt due to what she had already heard. She did not intend to duplicate this fear. Sarren's reasons for not talking were different. Nevertheless, he told his daughter everything he knew when the time had come.

"My father and mother did not have children for a long time and my mother strongly wished to have a child. My grandmother spoke to the gods that night she found me. Or at least my dad told me. She told them that I was sent by Mythal and if they kept me they would be rewarded. My father said that he did not believe in Varosa at first, but he did not want to anger Mythal, either. Shortly after they took me, my mother got pregnant and my step brother was born. That's why they thought I was really Mythal’enaste.” She felt the need to translate the people who were in front of her and said," I mean Mythal’s favor. "

"They had given me the name Enaste. My parents never seperated my step brother Seralan and me. As far as I remember, I was always happy and safe with my family. In fact, my father gave me the title of master hunter before my brother, because I deserved it. "

This act of his father made some elves who did not want Enaste in the clan to take a step back and strenghtened her position. It was not easy to become a master hunter for every Dalish. It required skill and hard training. At the end of Enaste’s training, she decided to hunt a Gurgut. Gurguts, were creatures looked like gigantic lizards that were living in the swamps of Exalted Plains.

_They were a very scary, wild monsters with their strong jaws and sharp teeth,. Their skin was valued for being robust and abundant. A a bit of luck and plenty of tenacity, Enaste hunted a Gurgut. The young girl realized that she could not move the animal as a whole she immediately skinned it and parted its body. She made some sledge from tree branches she could find and took her booty to the camp. She saw the surprise expression on the face of the others as she entered to camp including her father, her heart filled with happiness. Enaste was not a very practical person, but she was matchless in hard work, determination and stubbornness. Such a hunter could not be kept from catching any prey in all Thedas. Her father had declared her a master hunter on the evening of the young girl's return to the camp for a small celebration. Enaste was delighted to see the pride and satisfaction of her father's eyes._

"Until the Civil War, everything was going well for us." Enaste bowed her head, her painful memories filled her mind like the flood waters that destroyed a set.

She was trying to stop the trembling in her voice. She stared at her fists that she clenched to keep herself from crying. The Civil War, which ravaged the kingdom of Orlais, caused by the throne fight between Empress Celene and Duke Gaspard. It overturned the world of the young girl like all the civilians living in Exalted Plains. All Dalish, including Sarren's clan, had gone to the safe corners of Exalted Plains and decided to watch the two hostile armies destroy each other, so that these lands would remain in their original owners.

"But things did not go as we thought. Suddenly everywhere was filled with Celene's army, Gaspard's army, and those of the evil gang that hated the two sides. We lost many people, including my step brother, until we carried our clan to a safe place. " She could not help dropping tears from her eyes as she remembered her step-brother.

Freemen of Dales, established by fugitive soldiers, was nothing but a group of stray gangs. They knew very well how to ambush and fight dirty. Enaste understood this well when they came in ambush in the woods with their clan. It was a tough fight. She could not help her father and brother because she was trying to protect the women and children in the nearby when trouble began. When the chaos had come to an end, she recognized the voice of her mother, the loud groan coming from the last part of the group.

As she ran in that direction, she saw her little brother lying still in his mother's arms. He was stabbed to death. Enaste had almost froze to the ground without knowing what to think or to say. There was her brother who was laughing and joking together with her the night before. A few minutes later his father came to them. Fortunately he got through this with a slight bruise.

They quickly moved away from the area and set up camping in the area they hoped was safe at night, and perhaps this was the quietest night they ever had. Varosa took care of the wounds of his father and other survivors. Her mother was sleeping with the effect of the soothing medicine given by Varosa. Enaste had not slept all night, still she could not believe the death of her step brother. The next day they continued to walk with the same heavy silence, reaching a point where could not have been invaded and probably could not be occupied by people since it was infertile.

While continuing her story, she was actually speaking to herself.

"My mother broke down because of the death of my brother. She got sick and died soon after. Varosa did everything she could, but the plant that remedied her disease was not there. There was, in fact, nothing where we were. Not a proper food nor a plant to make medicine, nothing! Then I realized we were not settled in a safe place or something. We put ourselves in a corner like a mouse, and we were actually waiting for the cat to come and put us down. My mother died there. No one could do anything. "

She lifted her head, her puzzled eyes were looking into the past.

"We had a fight with my father the night my mother died. I told him we had to leave the place we were staying. I knew that we would not be able to find enough food to sustain our clan no matter how good hunters we are. Our supplies would soon be finished because of the attack we were going through. We should have left immediately. But my father did not want. He said we could handle, what we needed to wait a little longer. We both started fighting when we insisted on our own ideas. My father yelled at me that he did not want to go. Then I saw clearly the intention behind his eyes and his words. My mother and brother were buried there. My father did not want to leave them. I think he wanted to die there too. Fortunately, with the help of my grandmother Varosa, we were able to convince my father to go. We left the aravels and left the road. So we could move faster. "

Enaste realized that the advisors listened to her with great interest and silence, she tried to gather her wits.

"We met some small Dalish groups on the road trying to survive like us. All of them had chosen a different place to go. My dad told me that we should go to Emprise du Lion. He knew this place as he was dealing with trade. We would settle there in the village of Sahrnia. We wended town’s way, my father sent a messenger bird to ruler of the town Mistress Alban Poulin. We started moving on a steep route far from the main roads to avoid confrontation with the soldiers. We chose a very challenging path, unfortunately we lost all of our old people, including my grandmother to Emprise du Lion, from sickness and exhaustion. "

Enaste felt that her heart was very moved by a pathetic sight again. Because of the death-struggle they had on the way, she had not had enough time to keep her mourning for her family. Her grandmother's death had also deeply affected Sarren. His father no longer even spoke with Enaste, he was only occasionally giving orders around and buried in silence again.

Enaste could see that he was gradually fading. It is now well understood that Sarren's desire for life lost with the death of Shaelya, would never come back and there was nothing to correct it. The journey lasted for a week, but Enaste felt like it took years.

"Have not you encountered something unusual on the way?" Cullen asked. The Inquisitor knew that Pharon was now in Exalted Plains.

The only concern of the region was not civil war anymore. The demons and the living deads that have passed through this world due to rifts in the veil have made it possible to interrupt the war. Now the people who were stuck in a corner because of the dark spawn army needed help. Pharon's intervention and destruction of dark spawn sources could end the civil war, as well as give the Inquisition a great deal of power.

Enaste turned to Cullen, she did not understand the question. She shook her head. Cullen told the young girl about the latest situation in Exalted Plains, feeling the need of it. Enaste finally understood what he meant.

 "No, we did not encounter monsters or demons. But we had to complete our journey almost without sleeping and camping because of the terrible voices we had heard from far away. Of course we did not even know about the Red Templars. "

Red Templars were part of Corypheus's army. At the end of the Mage-Templar war, Corypheus offered a substance called red lyrium to the Templars who left the Order. Thus, he had also added a part to his army from the Templars. One of the most important sources of the red lyrium was the Emprise du Lion region. When the Sahrnia village, once enriched by the mining trade, collapsed due to war and the region was occupied by the Red Templars. Alban Poulin, the ruler of the village, was forced to work together.

She was selling village residents to Red Templars to work in the red lyrium mines for the money. In the recent days, the declining population of the village caused the woman to have worried days. The day as the workers were depleted, Red Templars would probably kill her. Sarren's messenger bird arrived to Alban just in time. The fresh blood to work in the mines came to the woman with its own foot. Alban immediately agreed with the Red Templars for a safe passage to town for Sarrin's clan. Of course, the Red Templars could try to catch the clan as soon as they reached the area, but every elf that would be lost in an attack was a missing worker in the mine. Alban could present them to Red Templars without blood.

"My father was very sick when we reached Emprise du Lion," Enaste said. "Alban welcomed us very well. She said that she would take care of him closely and that he would be treated well. We had a group of 30-40 people left in our clan, and half of it consisted of strong men. Strong elves who could be sold immediately for work in the mines. A couple of days later, when Red Templars came for us, Pharon and his friends were there too. We could not understand the woman's intentions before and it did not take long for us to go into fight with Red Templars on Inquisitor’s side. They were very strong. I have never seen such creatures in my life."

"Some seemed human, and some became deformed. I could not see it clearly because of the armor they were wearing and the misty air. I remember that only their eyes, all of them shone with a red light. They were so strong that it took minutes to kill a single one of them. When the fight started, I and a few of my friends who were master hunters came out to the nearby buildings and got out of the roofs. We tried to support Pharon and his friends with our bows. The fog and the fighters below were blocking our sight, but we made it. I do not know where the archers of the Red Templars had been hiding. I realized them because of the arrow passing through my ear, when I returned to call out to my friends, I saw that two of them had already been shot and killed. Unfortunately, we lost all the men of our clan when the fight ended. Only the wounded, women and children who came here with me were left behind. I talked to Pharon and he sent us here. "

"What about the wounded elves and your father?" Josephine asked. It was obvious from her voice how sorry she was.

"Pharon said there was a camp of the Inquisition close to the town. So the wounded could be sent there. My father ... "Enaste swallowed and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "My dad said he wanted to go to the Inquisition camp with the wounded. I think he thought he would die on his way wherever he went. "

Josephine thanked the young girl and said she could now return to her tent and rest. Enaste slowly stood up from her chair and bowed briefly.

"Poor girl," Josephine said, not lifting her head from her notes. "So much has happened."

Leliana nodded Josephine. "Pharon had stated that he was seeing good benefit if she joins the army," she said and turned to Cullen.

"I think she is more skilled than many novice troops we brought in the army after Haven disaster. I will introduce her to Arrian. I'm sure we can find her a place among the archers.” he said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enaste learns how she can cope life in the castle as she faces with jealousy for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: The chapter includes an original character who has a drug addiction.  
> Thanks for all kudos and readings.  
> I'd love to hear your opinions about my first fic.

Enaste could not sleep during the night. It would take a long time to feel safe again in one place. When she went out of the tent to get fresh air with the first lights in the morning a soldier came to call her. After giving a greeting, he informed Commander Cullen wanted to see her.

A part of the castle was reserved for soldiers who were trained in sword fighting and archery. Cullen and the thin, long elf who stood next to him were facing away. They were watching the archers together. The soldier saluted and left Enaste alone with them. Cullen pointed the elf next to him with his serious attitude.

 "Let me introduce you with Arrian. He is a Dalish, too from Hinterlands. "

Arrian greeted her with a sarcastic smile on his thin lips. " Welcome, "said in Elvish, he did not need to hide implication in his voice.

 Arrian was as elegant and handsome as every elf. He had put his long black hair behind his long, pointed ears. His blue eyes were shining.

"Thank you." Enaste said without breaking her seriousness as she really felt uncomfortable. For the first time in his life, Arrian heard a human speaking in Elvish. And with perfect pronunciation. His eyebrows were lifted in astonishment.

"Well," Arrian muttered in a joyful manner, "Commander Cullen said you were a good archer, but that's what I will decide. See if you can really shoot as good as an elf? "

Enaste began to walk further away from the border where the other soldiers were training after she had taken a bow and arrow bag. She was quite restless while she was feeling the gaze of two men on her back. She reached the distance enough for herself, she aimed and shot four arrows in a row at great speed. In the meantime, the looks of the training soldiers, also turned at her. There was a moment of silence. Cullen and Arrian were near the target. Enaste walked to them and looked at the target. The three arrows fell on bull’s eye and the fourth was struck a few millimeters to the left.

 "I'm sorry." said the young girl, turning to two men in astonishment. "I can do better than that with my own bow. And it is very difficult to aim in these clothes. "

"Yes, the commander she is definitely a Dalish," Arrian said with a smile, "There is no doubt that she has the skill of hunting."

Cullen smiled too. Enaste felt that her heart was accelerating, the young man seemed at least ten times more handsome when he was smiling. "Arrian is the captain of the archers in our army, so you might be a good second captain. You can train soldiers together. I'll arrange you a uniform, you can use your own arrow. "

Cullen walked away, Arrian and Enaste were looking from his behind. Arrian leaned to the young girl with an arched smile.

"So we can turn back to work since Commander Handsome left," He said in a low voice. Enaste blushed. She quickly turned to Arrian, both embarrassed and surprised. Did she reveal that she liked Cullen a lot?

"I …"

"Forget it Little Elf. Commander Handsome is a complete chump in these matters. He did not understand, I'll bet you. "

"How did you understand in the name of the gods, we did not even speak properly?"

"Let's just say that my experiences with love are much more than you and Commander Chump. Still, I congratulate you, you are more successful than other women in keeping yourself low. " Arian laughed with a sarcastic facial expression on his face.

Enaste began to get angry from his sarcastic attitude. "Do you always call people with nicknames like that?"

Arrian forced him to be serious infront of the angry young girl. If the gods allow, they would work and fight together. So he gave up.

"I am sorry. My intention was not bad.”

Enaste was examining the man's face, trying to decide if he was sincere in his words. She finally said, "Apology accepted," and started to walk back to her tent.

"How chatty you are, Little Elf," Arrian called out her behind, and then she heard his laugh.

Enaste knew that she had to try hard to get along well with the captain of the archers.

One of the rooms opened to Skyhold's garden was assigned to Enaste as she became the second captain of archers. She was initially unhappy with her departure from the clan members she had stayed with in the tent. She decided that this change would not affect her much since she would spent most of her time outside for training of new recruits. However, the first night was hard. She had kept turning in her bed since she was not accustomed to sleep in a comfortable bed without anyone around her. In the morning she wore the uniform that was given to her quickly. The knees and thighs of the leather pants were thickened with additional layers. She wore a simple cotton shirt to keep herself warm and comfortable while moving. Her thick leather jacket fit on her well. She took her arrow and went out.

As she walked toward the training area, a small boy came running to her. This was one of the apprentices of Harritt, the blacksmith of the castle.

"I was looking for Master Arrian," He was panting. "I looked at him on the training field, but I could not find." Enaste returned to the child after taking a brief look at Arrian's room. The little boy had a begging look. "Well…will you go to his room and…"

Enaste was surprised by the anxiety in his eyes, but she could not see a reason to refuse him. "Well, what am I going to tell him?"

"Master Harritt wanted Captain Arrian to come and check some arrows that he finished," the boy said hesitantly. He was begging quietly to Maker not to be sent to Arrian’s room.

Enaste walked into Arrian's room without saying anything else. The little boy already disappeared. She knocked on the door, the tense voice rising from behind belonged to Arrian. "What now?"

 Enaste opened the door slowly and went in. Arrian was leaning against his desk with his arms behind him looking at entrance. When he saw the young girl he wanted to pose a more relaxed attitude but he failed. Enaste understood why blacksmith’s apprentice was afraid.

"Blood lotus extract?" Arrian's face was confused because of the shock.

"How you..?"

Enaste took her hand to right corner of her mouth and pretended to wipe it without saying anything. Arrian quickly took his hand to his mouth, he looked at the dark brown stain on his finger and swore an Elvish curse.

Blood Lotus was a pleasure giving substance which had been introduced by vagrant Dalish gangs to humans. It was used for a long time, it caused severe changes in the mood. The blacksmith apprentice must have been afraid that Arrian would hurt him, so he wanted Enaste to go to Arrian’s room.

"This is not your business, Little Elf! What do you want?" Arrian said angrily.

Enaste replied in a calm voice. "Blacksmith Harritt wanted you to check out some arrows that he had finished." Then she turned back to leave the room. Arrian called her, he couldn’t dare to shout, he didn’t want to draw attention.

"Little Elf!"

Enaste looked at Arrian again. He nervously threw his hair behind his ears.

"Please do not tell anybody what you’ve seen here." he said swiftly. He was panicked and embarrassed. He could not look her in the eyes and    did not even realize he was talking in Elvish. "They should not know that. Especially the Commander Handsome! I promised him I'd give it up. I ... I could not. "

"Arrian you were right at what you said." Enaste replied him, a small smile almost tugged her lips. "This is not my business."

She left the room without talking more. She did not hear about any survivor from Blood Lotus Extract addiction before. It was not a very common substance. The consequence of the addiction is an inevitable death. The great changes in the mood usually resulted in the suicide of addicted person. There was no medicine or magic that could end this addiction. And quitting was not possible. she could neither judge Arrian nor help him. She knew that no one in Skyhold could help either. Although she found Arrian annoying, she felt sorry for him.

When she arrived in training field, the soldiers saluted her. Enaste worked with the soldiers for a long time and did not see Arrian again all day.

The next day Arrian came to training area in a cheerful mood as if nothing had been happened and continued his attitude in the following days. Until a young soldier came and told that Commander Cullen wanted to see him. As he was walking to Cullen’s office, he threw an anxious look at Enaste. He thought she might have told Cullen everything.

After Cullen sent the young soldier to call Arrian, he went out and walked to the side of the walls facing the training area. The tower that Cullen used as an office was located on the walls of castle. For this reason, he could easily watch every important point in the castle when he went out.

Enaste was shooting with the soldiers. She was using the bow with her left hand, so she drew it with her right arm and put her right leg backwards. The elegant and curved lines of her body became more prominent with the leather uniform and this position. She looked like a sculpture.

Among the soldiers there were women, even more beautiful than Enaste. Cullen found himself staring at the young girl for days for a reason that he did not know. He was accustomed to the women who clearly expressed their liking, and even some of excessive movements and talks. Since the first time they met, he felt like Enaste was avoiding from him. The young girl did not looked at him even once while she was telling her story in the War Room. The same cold and distant attitude continued in the field of training. But as far as he could see, she was not like tretaing Arrian like this. They seemed to be working in great harmony together.

Cullen was so curious why she was so cold to him. Once the Inquisition army grew sufficiently, Enaste would have her own soldiers like Arrian, and she would have to work closer with Cullen. For this reason, Enaste was also being trained to command the soldiers. He saw that Arrian was approaching, he turned his back reluctantly and entered to his office.

Arrian came to the office and smiled at Commander  trying not to show his tension to him.

Cullen did not know how to start. Arrian had been with Cullen since Haven. He helped in the establishment and training of the Inquisition army. On the contrary of what was seen from outside, he made no demand for his help. They were good friends but still Cullen was having a hard time asking private questions to him. He started to walk up and down behind his desk and rub his neck with one hand. He was doing this often when he was nervous.

"I called you because I wanted to ask how things are going with ... I mean to speak ..." Arrian tried to figure out what he was trying to tell while mumbling.

As he guessed where this was going he relieved, giving Cullen a strange smile. "Are you asking about the Little Elf?" He was even more cheerful with the tense and shy expression on Cullen's face.

"It's going well.” Arrian continued without waiting for Commander’s reply. “A smart girl, resourceful and capable of teaching. She was able to teach a lot of thick headeds that I could not train. The soldiers respect her. But it's too early for her to command a group of soldiers. "

Cullen listened very carefully to Arrian. He shook his head as if he understood and stared at the map in front of him. "I see you get along well," he murmured.

Arrian loved to manipulate the people around, and what he just had heard was an opportunity for him. Suddenly he thought Cullen and Enaste needed some serious help. Both of them had to be pushed towards each other strongly, or they could not make any progress. Cullen was at least as shy as Enaste but had a very ambitious character otherwise he would not be such a good man of war. The only negative aspect was that he was directing this ambition to win the wars only. A person who did not know Cullen would not pay attention on the sentence he had just used. However, Arrian could catch the low tone of jealousy in his voice.

He made sure that he took the control from that point. "Yes, we agree very well," said in an implied voice. "I have to admit she’s a nice girl. Young, smart, brave and mature. Her face may not be beautiful, but I have to give her the credits that she has good legs, wonderful hips and a very nice ass. I can tell she’s as good as a man can make love without hesitation."

He bravely grinned at Cullen after seeing the expression on his face. There would be no harm from a little further provocation. "But not my type. You know my woman must be taller, prettier and more crazy. "

"I think that's enough Captain Arrian." Cullen said in an angry voice. Arrian saluted him briefly and stepped out of the room with a cynical smile on his face.

As he walked down the walls towards the training area, Arrian saw that the young girl looked in that direction. As soon as he arrived she asked:

“Is everything allright?”

Arrian replied with a cheerful grin on his face, "Little Elf nothing has ever been so good!" He laughed. Meanwhile he was thanking to gods for finally giving the opportunity to bring some color into his life as he had none in this place located in the middle of desolation.

While Arrian and Enaste walked to their the rooms at the end of the day, the elf turned to Enaste.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. In response to Enaste's questioning glance, he continued. "Because you did not tell Cullen about the Blood Lotus thing."

Enaste smiled lightly. "It is not my habit to talk to people about issues that do not concern me."

"Talking to people is not your thing," Arrian said in an impish manner. He saw that Enaste was about to get angry, so he forced himself to look serious again:

"I can teach you dagger fight," he said. "You are very good at arrow but you have to learn the close combat, too. Believe me, I'm the best trainer here to teach you this. Enaste nodded silently and accepted his offer.

"So we are starting tomorrow," Arrian said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun was about to go down. The torches inside the castle were lit. Enaste’s two hands holding the wooden daggers were trembling because of Arrian’s hits on them. She did not even remember how many times he hit her or dropped the daggers in her hands. Her head was covered in dust, her hair was a mess. Arrian had already warned a few times that they could stop, but the young girl stubbornly continued. She did her last attack, she managed to drop the dagger in one of Arrian's hands. However, the elf moved faster, dropping the dagger in her hand, then grasped the other one, restraining her. He put his dagger on Enaste's neck:

"That's enough Little Elf!" He said softly to her ear, "Let's rest and go on tomorrow. Let's not make our Commander Handsome any more jealous." He released Enaste, the young girl looked at him with great surprise.

 "You’ll know soon" Arrian said with his usual cynical smile then he went away to rest.

Enaste thought what Arrian said laying in her bed. She could not even imagine that Cullen would jealous her. There were many beautiful women who were courting to commander, and none of them had succeeded, as far as she heard. Moreover, she hardly ever had a conversation with the man since they met in the War Room. Enaste found it very exciting that Cullen even remembered her presence. After a while she fell asleep, unable to withstand tiredness.

The next morning, she walked thoughtfully towards the field of training and a young soldier approached her to tell Commander was waiting for her. As they walked into Cullen's office together, she felt her heart was beating hard. She had no idea what to say or how to act. They came in the office, then the soldier left the young girl there and quickly moved away. Enaste saw a small but well lit room. There were many maps on a large desk. The long bookshelves in the back were filled with books and large scrolls. In front of the desk, there was a smaller but broad coffee table and a large wood on it with a surface divided by small black and white squares, which she had never seen before. The commander was not in the room. Enaste could not overcome her curiosity and came in front of the small table. It was a kind of game, as far as she could tell from the board and the hand-carved stone pieces on it. She had not noticed that the Commander had entered the room while bending over the table to examine the stones closely.

_Arrian was right when he said. "Every man can make love without hesitation."_

Cullen was pleased with the sight he had seen when he entered the room. Then he realized that the young girl did not notice him, he coughed lightly instead of enjoying the scenery as Arrian would. The young girl jumped and turned around, she dropped the stone piece in her hand. There was a guilty expression on her face. Her eyes were slightly wider, her cheeks blushed.

 _"Does she know how beautiful she looks like this?"_  Cullen thought. He took two steps and closed the distance between them, kneeling down and taking the falling piece. Enaste had not been able to step back because of the coffee table. Since he was so close to her she was out of breath due to her excitement.

Cullen got up and looked at her, she swallowed. "I am sorry. I just..." she could not complete her sentence.

She felt her mind stopped. Her brain was thinking thousands of words at the same time but she could not even take one out. Cullen smiled. It was a slightly crooked smile towards the direction of his scarred lip.

"It does not matter." he said softly. Enaste wanted to get out of his way, but the connection between her brain and her feet seemed to have been cut off. Her feet were almost nailed. Cullen slowly leaned over to Enaste and left the stone piece in his hand on the board. She felt the heat radiating from Commander. His smell was dazzling. The only thing she did not notice was that Cullen was affected in the same way.

 _"Maker! It is the same flower smell._ " He thought.

The magnificent flower smell when she first entered the War Room. It was very difficult to resist the desire to pull Enaste towards himself and bury his face in her neck. He walked behind the desk with a quick step without looking at the young girl. He was not curious to show his manhood that started to wake up.

He cleaned his throat again. "I talked to Commander Arrian. He said you are a very good trainer."

Enaste thanked him as he started to talk in a serious manner as usual. She hoped that the redness on her face had passed.

"I think you're a good team with Arrian." Cullen said.

"Commander Arrian is a very good instructor." Enaste said. "I am getting dagger combat training from him."

"Yes, I saw it," the Commander said to the young girl in a strange tone of voice. "It is true that a soldier should know how to fight. But he must also know how to use his intelligence. Do you know what the game you are looking at?"

The young girl shook her head in a confused state. "It's a strategy game." Commander continued. "In order to win the game, you have to guess what your opponent will do. You need to be able to see not just one but many moves beyond. Do you want to know how it is played? "

Enaste was panicked and wanted to say “No” since everything was developing so fast. However she found herself saying "Yes. I want to learn."

"Then come back here after your training with Arrian." Cullen ordered. He started to examine the papers in front of him. Enaste saluted him in confusion and left the room.

She spent the whole day like she was in a dream. She was so abstracted that Arrian stopped training shortly. There was a serious expression on his face.

"What is it, Little Elf? You can not even give half of your attention. "

"The commander called me to his office after my training with you." Enaste muttered, she was clearly distrssed. “To teach a strategy game." She stopped as she realized how awkward her statement was. Arrian saw the expression in her face, so he gave up his victory laughter.

"Do you not want to go?" He asked softly.

The last thing that he wanted was to hurt Enaste altough he enjoyed his little game. He liked the young girl. Despite his friendship with Cullen, the Commander was always busy with the war they were in. Therefore the young girl became his best friend after they had spent time together. Enaste is the most polite, unprejudiced and reliable person he had ever met. So forcing her to do something she did not want exceeded even Arrian’s limits.

Enaste shrugged. "I do not know." she said, "I think I'm afraid."

"You?" Arrian responded with a surprise.

"You know. He is a very handsome man and there are many beautiful women around him. I do not want to fall into a foolish position by losing myself to the wrong ideas."

Arrian smiled. "You are the smartest girl I know, Little Elf. Also remember that Commander would never have offered such a proposal if he did not want to see you. I know him at least that much. We can finish today’s training if you wish. We don’t want you to look messy while going to see Commander, do we? "

He put one of his arms on Enaste’s shoulder trying to cheer her up. He looked up the walls he saw the Commander turning around and entering his office.

The first lesson was even more difficult for Enaste than for the dagger fight. She had to memorize the moves of strange shaped stone pieces on the board, to ignore the presence of Cullen sitting in front of her, and to estimate the next moves of his opponent. She frowned, looking for a piece to move with a serious expression on her face. She was looking at the chess board, she untied the leather bands infront of her jacket one by one to take off her jacket in order to relax a little bit. She leaned forward, putting her arms on her knees to concentrate. What she did not realize that her shirt was displaying her small, steep breasts generously.

Cullen did not know what to think and where to look. He could ignore many women’s seductive attitudes, their inviting movements, or their sweet talks. He had never wanted to start a romantic relationship until now. There was no place for romance in the Templars' Order because they were deeply attached to Chantry religion. Certainly, he was not a virgin, he had experienced enough relationship to know a woman’s body. He just did not believe that he could cope with falling in love, so he always preferred to stay away. However, the feelings he felt for Enaste were very different. He had a great desire to pass the thick walls she had built between them. Despite her inward and cold state, her movements and talks were natural and sincere. He was trying to resist the desire to have her burning like a fire inside him. Arrian had already captured the young man's mind from this point. The desire of conquest of a soldier and rivalry that will fuel this desire ...

Arrian had shown himself to Cullen as anopponent. Because he knew that Commander, who had always fought for absolute victory in the wars, could not say no to this competition.

Cullen coughed lightly to avoid further exploitation of Enaste's situation. She first looked at him with empty eyes, then quickly realized where the Commander's eyes were looking at and closed the neck of her shirt quickly with one hand.

She was ashamed.  _"Gods will I always be emberassed infront of this man?"_  she thought with the burning feeling on her face.

She murmured. "I am sorry."

She just wanted to be able to do more than just apologizing and putting herself to shame. Cullen smiled. "I think this is enough for this evening. We can continue tomorrow. This is not a game you can learn in a few days."

Enaste tried not to look at his face while trying to wear her jacket with fast and clumsy movements. She left her chair and said good night while leaving the room as quickly as she could.

In the following weeks, she got used to her situation. After dagger combat training with Arrian, she was playing chess with Commander. She was very careful not to put her into difficult situations again, but she had stopped her anxious attitude. So they even started to have very pleasant conversations. Mostly they did not understand how the time passed. Cullen was pleased with the closing of the distance between them. He liked the elf stories and legends told by the young girl and enjoyed watching Enaste's natural gestures when she was telling these stories. One night, Cullen had won the game as always. He accompanied Enaste to the door with a teasing smile on his face.

"Sometimes I wonder if you have chosen me as an opponent to always win."

Cullen laughed as Enaste muttered in defeat. "I'm sure you will win too. In a short time you learned a lot about playing. You are doing much more skilled moves than the beginning. "

"Oh, sure!" Enaste replied saracastically.

As she reached out to door, Cullen embraced her waist gently and leaned her against the door. There was now a serious expression on his face. Without saying anything, without any warning he kissed Enaste. She girl thought her heart would jump out of her mouth. She was surprised by the action she did not expect. She had to lean more against the door to avoid falling on to floor because of her weakened muscles. Cullen is pulled back and saw the big surprises expression on her face.

"Sorry. I thought ... I thought you might want it too, " He said in panic.

Enaste was also panicked because it was time to decide how to continue her relationship with Cullen. She also had some ideas about him during the time and so she knew they could not come back to this point if she spelled the wrong word.

Her heart had already decided in her name at a fast pace, and she suddenly found herself answering "It was great," in a breath. Cullen smiled and kissed Enaste again.

On her way back to room, she felt like she was walking in the air. Her mind was trying to figure out if she was in a dream or not. She felt the stupid smile on her face, she immediately tried to return back to normal.

Enaste was looking forward to the passage of time the next day. No matter how hard she tried to hide her excitement, Arrian seemed to notice the change in the young girl. While working delightfully in the training field, they saw Leliana walking with quick steps to Cullen's office. After a while Leliana and Cullen went into main building together. Later, Commander did not show up again as he must have been with the others in the War Room. That room was a more secure place than Cullen's office, so Inquisitor's advisors were making their secret and important meetings here. next day, the reason of the fuss entered the castle on a white and ostentatious horse.

Her flaming red hair was lengthened to her waist in large waves. Her dress could be seen under her cloak. She was certainly a noble dressed in a fancy cloth which showed most of her white and smooth skin and decorated with valuable stones. A soldier was holding the horse's halter, they slowly walked to the stairs of main building. Arrian and Enaste have approached the curious crowd to see the first guest coming to Skyhold since long time passed. The woman on the horse had a tough, cold looks in her green eyes.

Josephine and Cullen quickly came down the stairs. He helped the guest to dismount from her horse. He was polite and gentle while helping her. The woman's glance also changed when she saw Commander; it became warmer and …romantic.

Cullen kissed her hand gently, put his hand on her waist and led her towards the entrance of the mainhall. Arrian side glanced at Enaste, he saw young girl's face was shadowed. Enaste quietly and quickly moved away from the crowd.

Arrian came near her slowly, Enaste was shooting with the arrow in the field of training. Her movements were nervous and harsh. She had no experience of a relationship, but she was not that naive to not to understand the meaning of some glances and moves between a woman and a man. Her eyes were filled with frustration, anger and jealousy, she was trying hard not to cry by constantly swallowing.

"Are you all right?" Arrian asked in a low voice. She did not turned to Arrian, aimed at the arrow, there was a nervous smile on her face:

"Why wouldn’t I be?" The fourth arrow hit on the others.

"I think we should not train with you today. You look like you were going to beat anyone for good." Arrian said with an uncomfortable smile.

Enaste did not even smile, it was obvious that her anger did not pass. "Yes," she responded in an icy voice, "It will be better not to train today."

Arrian and Enaste were tired when they finished the day. She did not smile even for a minute and hardly spoke. Her introverted, angry silence had also affected Arrian. The elf may have never worked so hard and so long in his life.

In the following days Enaste saw Cullen again in the garden of Skyhold, going between his office and the mainhall. But the guest was with him in every time. And the commander did not look at the young girl for once. He seemed to pay his all attention to the woman.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enaste will learn eventually nothing is as it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: The chapter includes a love scene between Cullen and Enaste, I am not sure whether it is considered explicit or not. I've changed the rate as Mature for just to be on the safe side.
> 
> The work is finished. It will update in every Saturday. My guess is there will only be three or four chapters more.
> 
> Me and my beta are not native English speakers, so we tried to do our best. 
> 
> Thanks a lot.

It was cloudy and cold in the morning, just like the young girl's thoughts. She came out of her room as she met with Arrian. They continued walking together in silence until he asked. "Are you not seeing the Commander anymore?"

"No," Enaste said firmly. She has been languish and unhappy lately.

"Why? The man is burning for you, but you do not give a fuck, " Arrian said in a mischief tone.

"No one's been burning for me," She muttered and let it slip out from her mouth without notice. "What is the meaning of a kiss anyway?"

Arrian's blue eyes widened. He stopped Enaste by the arm. He tried to keep his voice as low as possible so that no one would not hear him. "Did the commander kiss you?" he asked. It was obvious that he was very excited. "Why did not you tell me before, Little Elf?"

"As I said it’s not important. At least, not important for him "

"Commander is not such a person ..."

Their discussion was cut in half by the arrival of Cullen and the woman. Arrian quickly pulled his hand from Enaste's arm.

Both saluted them, woman’s arrogant looks did not escape their eyes. The couple keep walking while the woman asked. "Who are they?"

Cullen replied. "Captains of the archery union." He was trying not to look back.

"They were arguing like lovers. Are they? " She chuckled.

"No, they are not." Cullen made a great effort for his voice to come out normally.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Enaste climbed the stairs to Cullen's office, thinking. "Maybe I listen to Arrian too much." Arrian had insisted her to see Commander. Enaste waited for the night as she did not want to draw too much attention. The guard Cullen’s door saw her and he talked in a shy manner.

"Commander Cullen is busy." He coughed. "He gave a strict order to not be disturbed in his office.”

Perhaps Enaste could have insisted if she had not heard the woman’s laugh coming from inside the room. It was an awkward moment. She did not know what to think or what to do. After a short pause, she saluted the soldier briefly and walked away with quick steps. She came to the stairs of the walls, she began to run down. The strong anger she felt caused her eyes to fill with tears. She was angry at Arrian for insisting her to see Cullen, was angry at Commander, who decided to throw her away, but she was mostly angry at herself. She kept telling how she was afraid to put herself in a stupid situation, now she eventually did it alone.

Late in the evening, Enaste was sitting on the floor under a torch hanging in the wall. She did not want to enter her room, cold and fresh air was good for her burning eyes as she tried not to cry. But she did not want to be with people either. So she chose a spot around the stall which was usually quiet at this time of night. She had a chance to think and her anger over Arrian had passed. After all, how could he even know that this woman would come to Skyhold?

The silence that gave the young girl peace did not last very long. Arrian came down and sit by her side. He had two big cups of beer in his hands. Enaste took one of it without saying anything and drank some beer with a restless smile on her face. Arrian had always arrived at the right time. There was a serious expression on his face like something was worrying him. After a short silence:

"I see you have not gone to see the commander." He said finally.

"Actually I did." She replied. "But Commander was very busy. With his _guest_." She was making a great effort to talk.

Arrian took a sip from his beer quietly. He looked faraway. He was thinking what to say then suddenly decided to get directly to the point.

"The name of our guest is Yvonne Beauvais. She is a mage that Cullen met in the past. When he was a young Templar, our Commander had helped her run away from Kirkwall before everything went crazy between mages and templars. He had saved her life. "

Enaste listened quietly. Arrian was trying to read the expression on her face but he could not.

"I heard that the reason for saving her life was his feelings for her. Nobody knows if there was a relationship between them. But there are rumors. Enas ... "

She cut his words in haste. "I decided to leave Arrian."

He was not surprised. He was expecting something like that because he knew Enaste. He watched the young girl for a while. Even in the dark he could see the tears on her cheeks.

"How do you intend to do that?" Arrian asked cautiously.

"I do not know. I will ask Leliana, Josephine or Pharon, if necessary, to give me a duty out of here. Do not worry, I have no intention of escaping. I owe Pharon and the Inquisition a lot. I do not do anything to betray his trust. "

Arrian looked relieved, "You shouldn’t. I do not think I can change your mind, do I?" He asked with a sad smile.

Enaste shook her head. "Besides seeing him with someone else, I do not think I can take any more of his acting like I'm invisible," she said. "It's best for me to be as far away as I can be."

Arrian did not answer. They went to their rooms after finishing their beers together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The gods should have heard Enaste. The young girl finished wearing her uniform, her room door was knocked. A soldier told her that everyone were gathering to meet Inquisitor at the entrance of the castle. Enaste hastily stepped out of her room and went to the gates. Pharon seemed magnificent on his horse. He was a tall man, he had a strong and muscular body as every warrior had to have. He looked even more intimidating in his armor. He dismounted from his horse with an agile move then gave the halter to the stable boy and he took of his helm. He had buzzcut his hair and his black eyes looked as sharp as a hawk.

This appearance of him gave confidence to soldiers as much as his heroism. There was a tired expression on his face. All the soldiers, including Enaste, saluted when he went to the main building of the castle with slow steps. Pharon disappeared inside after a short salutation.

Enaste was thinking how to meet with Pharon on the training field. She had also not seen Arrian for a while. A few minutes later, as if he had heard her thoughts, Arrian was running to her.

"The Inquisitor is waiting for you at Josephine's office." He blinked at her surprised face and said "How could I not be so privileged as captain of the archers, Little Elf"?

The young girl almost ran up the stairs and went into Josephine's office. Pharon now was wearing more ordinary clothes. Even in this state he had a compelling look.

"Hello Enaste." he said with a smile. His lips were a little thicker for a man, and his face lines were rough. His tone of voice was thick and authoritative. Enaste hesitantly came to him. She was both surprised and very happy that he had accepted to see her. "The captain of the archers said you wanted to see me."

"Yes, sir," She said shyly. She was thinking how to begin. "Sir ... I want to go on a field duty now."

Pharon lifted his eyebrows: "Are not you satisfied with your tasks here?"

"No, sir, that's not what I mean. I now think I can do more, "She said hastily. “I know we're in a war and I want to make more contributions. "

"Did you talk this with Commander Cullen?"

Enaste was prepared for the question. "I believe the commander will approve this too but he's been working very hard lately. I ... did not want to wait any longer because I’ve been thinking of such a duty for a long time. That's why I wanted to talk to you. "

She did not know how Pharon would react to her little lie, but it's worth the risk.

"Well, I’ll speak to the Commander for you." Inquisitor smiled, surprisingly. "You are right, the commander is quite busy, there is a battle that takes place at full speed outside."

Enaste's eyes shone. She never thought it would be so easy."I will not embarrass you, sir." Pharon only gave her a thin smile.

The next day Inquisitor called Enaste again. This time he was standing at the door of the War Room. His face was very serious.

"We will send you to the Hinterlands." He said briefly. "There are people who escaped from the war in the camps they need a lot of help."

The young girl was disappointed. It was not a very remote area from Skyhold. Of course she wanted to help the civilians because she had escaped from battle and took refuge in Skyhold, but a further region would be much better.

"Someone who speaks two languages and knows both cultures, like you, in a place where elves and humans come together would be very helpful." Pharon continued. "You can leave at dawn. Complete your preparations for the rest of the day. "

Enaste did not object. Something in Pharon's looks stopped her. She left with a salute.

The next day at dawn she finished saddling her horse. There was only Arrian. Enaste turned to him and smiled but could not get a response. Arrian looked quite sad. Her best friend looked like he had lost his all joy. The young girl embraced him unnexpectedly.

"Great, now you want to make me cry." Arrian murmured and he tightly wrapped his arms around Enaste. Before she left, he kissed her forehead. "Be careful," he said in Elvish, "Do not trust anyone else. Remember how dangerous the outside is."

Enaste was not holding her tears anymore. "I will be careful dear friend. Take care."

It was very difficult to leave Arrian, but the most painful was leaving Cullen behind. However it looked like he did not share the same feelings with Enaste, as he agreed with the Inquisitor to send her away. At least this was clear.

She jumped on her horse and started to go slowly towards the castle gate. She was afraid to look back since she knew that if she looked back she could change her mind and decide to stay at the expense of suffering more and perhaps even being miserable like her father. Enaste was not like her father and she did not want to feel desperate because of what she had lost.

Maybe she would come back when the burning feeling of anger in her heart that she felt for her stupidity and the obligation to give up the man she was in love with.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was only a week that she came to the Hinterlands. Thanks to Pharon, the area was almost completely safe. The troops were in charge of the immigrant camp here. Those who were able to escape from the regions of war and dark spawns were settled in the camp that was established here.

Enaste was determined to make the best for people who needed help. Captain Nolan, who was in charge of the camp soldiers, saw the young girl as a drawback since the very beginning. Captain has been extremely cold and grouty to Enaste since their first uncomfortable encounter. According to him, the upper crust soldiers in Skyhold lived peacefully and happily away from the ongoing war and destruction.

From the very beginning, consuming good food and educating soldiers from time to time, and getting plenty of drink in the castle were his dreams. But the little girl he met had already been in Skyhold before him. From every angle, he could not make the uniform go with Enaste, but Captain's narrow mind was not used to looking at things from various angles.

For Enaste, the days were often spent distributing the necessary supplies and finding a place in the camp for people who came in smaller groups. The growing population of the camp created of various groupings within both races. It was their duty to protect the delicate balance between these groups.

Most of the time, Enaste was listening to the complaints of camp residents and finding solutions. Captain Nolan had loaded this drudgery on her with great pleasure. She was doing all the things that were considered superfluous, without complaining. So she could get tired enough and could fall asleep without thinking too much during nights. It was very painful to think. She knew that more time had to pass before the fire in her heart went out.

The lunch at the camp started near to noon, Enaste watched the big queue of the camp residents. There were a few more soldiers beside her. Everyone was waiting with their plates to get a scoop of what the cook did, perhaps with the most terrible flavor of all Thedas.

It was caught her attention that humans were in the front of the line and the elves were in the back. Nevertheless, the elves were waiting for their order to come quietly without complaining. When she heard the screams and cries, Enaste ran to that direction. A little elf child with fearful eyes on the ground was holding his bleeding nose. Enaste quickly came to the boy, hold him from his arms and gently helped him to stand up.

"This elf ran in front of the line! You saw it too, didn’t you? " It was clear who knock the boy down. Approving grunts rose from the surrounding people. "They are always so sneaky!"

The man continued. He was tall and fat. Enaste turned to the child and asked in Elvish "Is that right?" She sounded very soft and calm.

The child shook his head, he was trying to talk while crying.  "No. I was just running to my mother. I was playing there." He pointed out a place slightly ahead of the line.

"Then my mother called, I ... I started to run and I hit this man when I could not stop." Breathlessly running, a Dalish woman came to them. She saw her child's bleeding and swollen nose, she cried with a slight scream and hugged him. She confirmed that she had called her son and saw him started to run to her.

Enaste ignored the grunting crowd, and turned to the big man. "He says he accidentally hit you while running to his mother."

His face was mixed up. He wanted to say something, other ones buried in silence. "What? Do you believe this sneaky elf brat or me?" The man finally said, his vioce reached a high pitched tone.

"I just believe that it is wrong for a big man like you to hit a small, vulnerable child and that you owe an apology to the boy and his mother." Enaste said, trying to keep calm.

The man was shaken as if he was hit. "You are mistaken if you think I will apologize from these elves, little lady." He hissed.

"Apologize." Enaste ordered in a calm and threatening tone of voice, without breaking her stance.

Other people did not want to take the risk of arguing with a high ranking Inquisition soldier, so the man hesitated for a moment, realizing that he could not get support from the silent crowd. However, his courage came back when he saw other soldiers had no intend to interrupt and preferred to watch them from a distance. He took one step further and stood infront of Enaste.

"What if I do not apologize?"

Enaste was staring at him. She realized that she could not win the fight with words, she grabbed his wrist with an agile move and pressed on a sensitive spot. Then swiftly bend his arm hard to his back. Everyone heard the man cried in pain.

 "Apologize," Enaste repeated,  her voice was as heavy as a stone and the ice particles created around her words.

He murmured something that could not be heard. Enaste slightly twisted his arm again and order him to apologize with a voice that could be heard this time. The man apologized with a screaming voice from the mother and son. As soon as he did, she released him. He grunted and rubbed his arm.

Enaste turned to the mother and her son. "I am sorry for that. If there is something I can do for you ... "

"I am grateful to you." The woman replied without waiting her to finish her sentence, trying to smile. "Gods protect you."

She turned her back with her child and walked behind the line, ignoring the looks of other people.

Enaste was upset with the soldiers watching all things from afar. She threw an angry glance at them and returned. She had another reason for not liking humans.

At night she was eager to return to her tent and rest. After the scene at lunch time the soldiers did not talk to her and she ate her inner alone. She did not complain about it because she felt that she did not want to be friends with people anymore.

Perhaps her father did something right by keeping her away from humans in the past. After the meal, she began to walk slowly to her tent. Captain Nolan gave her the farthest tent as expected from him. She had to follow a long dark path from other tents to her own. She was on the half way, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hey elf lover!" This was the big man that she argued at noon. His size can be seen even in the dark. Enaste hesitated for a moment and slowly moved her hand to her dagger. "Did you think you would get away after what happened today, little whore?" There was nobody around, the man must have passed the soldiers unseen in the dark.

"Go back to your tent." Enaste replied, trying not to show her fear.

But instead of walking away he shouted and swung the thick wood that he was holding to her. It was good to hear his voice so Enaste understood the direction of attack and just bowed in time then gave a strong punch to his soft stomach. The man heaved and twisted.

However, there were his two other friends who were smarter than him and remained silent until that moment. They jumped out of the darkness and made their moves behind her. One of them managed to hit with his wood on Enaste’s back. The young girl kneeled down trying to catch her breath. One of the men cried in thrill and tried to hit her on the head, she got away by tumbling to the big man standing in front of her. At the same time she pulled her dagger and stabbed it on his foot. A painful scream echoed in the night.

Enaste understood the truth when no one came to look after such a loud noise. The soldiers had allowed the men to approach her. To give her a so-called lesson. The two men rushed towards the young girl to hold her, Enaste rolled through the legs of the big man and wrenched her dagger from his foot. Another cry of pain came up. Because of the strike between her shoulder bones, she felt her aching muscles in every move. It was also hard to breathe through excitement and fear. Nevertheless, she tried not to pass out, jumped on the back of the man she had passed behind, and tightened her legs firmly to his waist to secure her position. She put her dagger on his throat.

"Tell your friends to retreat or I'll open your throat all along." She hissed.

The big man tried to throw her off his back with a clumsy move. Enaste clenched more tightly and scraped his throat slightly with the dagger. Then the man froze like a sculpture. His friends looked at the man and the young girl on his back in a stupid and confused expression with the woods in their hands.

"Do not make me repeat myself." Enaste gritted her teeth, whispering furiously to the man's ear. The big man finally talked in defeat.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Get away from here."

The two men got lost in the night. Enaste quickly opened her legs and put her feet on his back to support herself then leaped backwards. So she landed at a spot far away from her opponent. The freed man moved away as quickly as he could, without even looking back.

Enaste was trembling when she entered her tent. She thought she was lucky to be able to defend this attack, which she did not anticipate. Nevertheless, she preferred to wait until morning, in case of the possibility of others coming, especially the soldiers.

At the first light of day, she came face to face with the captain and two soldiers out of her tent. Either the incident happened last night spreaded very quickly among people, or the Captain was behind this. Nolan talked with a sour face.

"We do not want trouble here.”

Enaste was trying to keep calm, but she put her hand to the dagger on her belly. With this movement, she felt a sharp pain on her back.

"I'm sure every shade of purple is now on my back.” She thought. She did not change her position as she did not want to look weak. On the other hand, she watched the others with all her attention.

"We all want the same thing." She said slowly. She relieved when she saw soldiers did not draw their weapons. Nolan replied without breaking the expression on his face. "Then give up holding the side of the elves, girl. We hardly protect the peace in this camp.”

"I do not hold anyone's side. Yesterday, I saw only a man who hit a vulnerable little boy. That child could be a human.” Enaste said. Captain did not try to answer, he looked at her with sneering eyes and turned away.

Enaste continued to work as usual until evening. She sat alone beside the camp fire again, eating her food. All day long, soldiers and humans avoided from the young girl. She saw the little Dalish boy running to her, she smiled. This was the boy that was beaten by the big man. His nose was swollen and purple.

Nevertheless, as every child did, he had already forgotten what had happened. He was lively and joyful. Distractedly, he handed a necklace to Enaste. Enaste looked at the necklace in her palm. The pendant was a Mythal figurine carved from colored stone, which was attached to the tip of a thin, leather belt.

"My mother did it for you," the boy said, "so Mythal will protect you." Enaste nodded, smiling and she wore it around her neck.

 "Why do not you have a tattoo?" the child asked suddenly. Enaste's smile froze in her face.

"Because I am not an elf." She replied softly.

"But you speak our language" The child murmured.

"Yes I’m a Dalish." Enaste answered him, she tried to sound cheerful.

He was stubborn indeed. "Then why do not you have a tattoo?"

Enaste could not give an answer. When the time came her father did not want her to have a tattoo, and perhaps for the first time in her life, Varosa also supported him in this regard. No explanation was given to her. If both Varosa and his father did not want to discuss a subject, no one could force them. That's why the tattoo case has always been a mystery to Enaste.

"Because I am not an elf." Enaste said wearily. Before she spoke more, the child turned away and ran back to his tent.

She grabbed her plate to finish her dinner, looking at at the meat pieces, floating in the pot liquor. "If I'm doing so much work I might as well get my hands on this food issue." She thought at the end.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

She went to the cook next morning. The fat man was grunting and doing something facing back to the young girl. Enaste spoke in a cheerful voice.

 "Good morning" The cook jumped with a thin scream not to be expected from his size. "Maker! What are you doing here?" he said in fear, surprised.

"I came to ask if I could help with the food."

"Do not you have anything else to do?"

"No not. But I have an idea to fix the food. Have you ever heard of the Hunter’s Stew? "

"Of course I did, but I do not have that stuff to cook it. Besides, it's a Dalish food. Elves refuse to hunt or cook for humans. And soldiers do not understand anything about hunting. So we have to be content with what we have. "

"Well then I will collect. It will not take too long if you wait for me for lunch, "She gave him a cheerfull nod. She stepped out of the kitchen and went to her horse.

Enaste came back in time as she promised. The Hinterlands were at least as green and forested as Exalted Plains. There were all kinds of materials for The Hunter's Stew. However, as the cook said elves were not willing to help for food since they don’t like humans.

The cook looked at the rabbits dangling from Enaste's neck with the astonished eyes and the roots, herbs and mushrooms she had carried in her bag. He put the ingredients on a large bench with a happy smile on his face.

The smell of lunch caught everyone's attention. The crowd gathered for the meal, and there were pleased murmurs among them. A young soldier who was not able to resist the smell asked.

 "What is this? It smells great! "

Enaste smiled as she answered in place of the cook.

"This is, my friend Hunter’s Stew."

Enaste spent two more weeks in the camp. During this time, she was constantly on alert during nights. She had disturbed sleep, however it was always better than to be dead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Enaste saw the face of a grinning soldier infront of her tent she struggled not to punch him in the face.

"What do you want?" She asked angrily.

The soldier grinned rakishly. "Captain Nolan is calling you. There is a message from Skyhold for you."

A sunny day could only have been so bad. The soldier began to walk towards the place where the captain was. Nolan had the same grinning on his face.

"They're calling you back to Skyhold." He said.

He was not trying to conceal how happy he was as he got rid of Enaste and could go back to his former life. The young girl would not normally believe the man, but he knew the soldier who was standing next to the Captain and brought the message. His name was Arthur.

After saluting Enaste, Arthur said. "Commander Cullen calls you back to Skyhold on the direct instruction of Inquisitor Pharon. They thank you for your service here. "

The pale face of Enaste did not go unnoticed by anyone. "How smart," she thought.

If the soldier who brought the message would only give Cullen's name, Enaste would probably say that she wanted a little more time and would send him back to Skyhold and try to go somewhere farther away. She could have denied Cullen's order with a low possibility, but she did not have a chance to refuse Inquisitor’s direct order.

"When are we going out?" She asked, reluctantly.

"There's an hour for you to pick up your belongings Captain." Arthur said.

Enaste came back with a shoulder bag Captain Nolan was joking with his own soldiers and laughing loudly. No wonder he was happy! The messenger was waiting for her with a serious attitude. They mounted their horses and started to go to the castle.

"The commander will be eager to listen to your views about this camp and the Captain who ruled here." Arthur muttered in an upset tone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nothing seemed to have changed in the castle, but lack of people around them caught her attention as she and Arthur were walking towards the stable with their horses. Before she could ask what was going on, she jumped because of a familiar voice.

"Little Elf!"

She turned back in haste, Arrian had closed the distance between them with his long legs and hugged the young girl then lifted her up and twirled. Enaste had to hold Arrian tightly to avoid falling on the ground.

"Arrian!" Enaste said happily. After they hold eachother a little longer they parted. Enaste then saw the deep scar on his right cheek. The rings of fatigue beneath his blue eyes made him look older than he was. The smile on her face faded, she caressed Arrian's cheek.

"Are you okay?" She was deeply concerned about him.

"I'm fine. You go to your room and get some rest. Then I will tell you what we've got through while you were away. "

Cullen was also on the walls when he heard Arrian’s voice. He was watching Enaste’s return.

He wanted to hug her more than anything like Arrian did. He did not think she would want to see him again. He had doubted that she would believe him when he told about what happened after she left the castle. That's why Arrian promised him that he would meet the young girl and tell her everything to fix the situation. Cullen had to leave it to his friend.

Enaste entered her room she saw that fireplace was lighted. In front of it there was a wooden bathtub filled with warm water. The young girl smiled and entered into the water. After cleaning, she put on the garment that was left on her bed.

There was a drawer where she hid her perfumes. she opened the drawer and found that they were still there. She took one of the bottles absently and wore some perfume behind her ears and on her neck. It seemed like she never had left the castle.

She felt ready finally, stepping out of her room and going to the inn to meet with Arrian.

They met at the inn, there was an unusual calmness inside. Arrian began to tell the whole story. On the day Enaste and Arrian saw Leliana she was going to talk to Cullen. Her spies had heard that Yvonne Beauvais would come to Skyhold. She was a mage who was working for Venatori. Her mission was to infiltrate Skyhold and destroy the castle.

Venatori was a fanatical organization serving Corypheus; they believed in this ancient Tevinter magister, who turned into a dark spawn and called him Elder One. According to the Venatori, Elder One would turn them into God-kings when he acquired the throne of the gods in the Black City and became the only god. Their leader was a powerful mage named Calpernia who believed Coypheus entirely in her heart.

Yvonne was trying to prove herself because of her ambition to rise within the organization. She came with the idea of infiltration to Skyhold, Calpernia had allowed the woman to go alone, although she was not very hopeful. If Yvonne succeeded, Calpernia would get a score. If she failed it would not also be a matter as there were many mages as powerful as Yvonne.

Yvonne had arrived in castle, she said to Commander Cullen, she had learnt that he ruled the Inquisition army and she wanted to pay her debt back to her old friend. She would inform Inquisition about all of the bases of Red Templars that she had located through her connections. Leliana had a plan as she knew about the mage, but everyone had to act normally so that the plan would remain in secret and Yvonne would not be suspicious.

Unfortunately, the hardest task here was for Cullen because of his common past with the mage. Once the commander seemed interested in Yvonne and received all the information he could gather about the Red Templars and Venatori, they would neutralize the mage. Cullen tried to play his role as best as he could and succeeded.

The day that Pharon sent Enaste to the Hinterlands, they were planning to how to stop the mage in the War Room. Cullen found it reasonable for Enaste to leave Skyhold so she could be safe. This was why he chose the Hinterlands in particular for her as it was a mostly safe region.

Enaste listened quietly to Arrian's story while trying to digest what she heard.

"Is he okay?" she asked softly. Arrian smiled.

"I do not know if his current state can be considered as good, but he’s in one piece and alive."

Later, he continued his story. They trapped Yvonne they realized that she was a stronger mage than they expected. Somehow she opened a rift and let a demon through.

"Everywhere was like hell. Thanks to both Pharon and our mages, we overcame them." Arrian sighed

"That time you were hurt?" Enaste asked compassionately.

"Yeah. We lost a lot of our soldiers, which caused everyone in the castle to lose their sprit. People do not want to leave their rooms or their tents because they can not throw their fear out yet."

"I could have helped too," Enaste said in a resentful tone. "I could have fought, too."

Arrian spoke again, there was a very serious expression on his face.

"I would not want anything to happen to you, either Enaste.” She was surprised, he addressed her with her name for the first time. "Cullen did the right thing."

"Why am I here then?" She asked stubbornly, "Why do I wear uniform?"

"The war is not over yet, Little Elf," Arrian said impatiently. "There are tons of opportunities ahead of you to fight your enemy as you’re young. I want to live so I can see the end of this war, do not you? "

Enaste did not respond. Arrian had given the answers to all questions in her mind. Suddenly she felt very tired.

"I will go to my room," Enaste murmured. She stood up to leave, she felt an urge to ask.

"Does he want to see me?" Arrian crossed his arms in a smart manner.

"What have I been telling you here for hours? Cullen allowed me to tell you the whole story because he knew you would not believe him." Enaste left the inn with a tired smile on her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She came to her room, she took off her clothes and released her hair that she had tied. She left the short shirt on her to use it as a gown. The room door was knocked she had guessed who had come. Nevertheless, she chose to open the door halfway to look who he was.

"Can I come in?" Cullen asked. Enaste let him in. Cullen averted his eye as he saw the young girl half naked, he blushed furiously.

"I apologize ... You must have been preparing for bed. I can come back later."He added quickly.

Enaste closed the door standing between him and the entrance. There was a brave look in her eyes. Cullen looked at her surprised. He seemed to have not slept for years due to the rings beneath his tired eyes and half-grown beard. Yet, he had not lost anything from his handsome look.

There was no uniform on him, instead he had a plain outfit consisting of a shirt and leather pants worn under a leather jacket. His muscled and well built body could be seen under the clothes.

"Why did you go?" Cullen asked in a sore tone.

"I would not go if I had known." Enaste replied boldly. "I would stay and I would fight together with you."

Cullen put his hand on his nape and started to walk around the room.

"Nobody should know about Leliana's plan. Especially you." He said desperately.

"Otherwise you could have been hurt Enaste." Cullen hesitated for a moment."Did you give up on me so quickly?"

Enaste was caught by this question unprepared. Cullen refered the meeting between the young girl and Pharon about leaving Skyhold.

"What did you expect me to do Cullen? Should have I endured seeing you around with that woman every day and done nothing? "

Cullen did not change his resentful expression on his face and Enaste did not expect him to do so.

"I've never been with anyone before. I thought I was doing the right thing by getting out of the way." She continued.

Cullen came to the young girl. He caressed her cheek. He was not hiding the desire in his eyes.

"Have not you ever been with anyone before?"

She seemed hypnotized. She had missed Cullen's soft, masculine voice and could not take her eyes from him. She slowly shook her head. Cullen leaned and kissed Enaste. Her heart was accelerated again. Commander grabbed her by the waist and rested her body on to his.

 "Would you like to be with me?" He asked softly. Enaste shuddered as she felt his masculinity beneath his trousers on her groin.

She could just whisper. "Yes."

This time Cullen responded with a deeper kiss. His tongue was wandering in her mouth. The gorgeous floral smell that filled his nose caused him to be more excited. He held her tightly with one hand and stroked her breast with the other. Enaste responded to this move with a small moan.

Cullen was lying on her naked and kissing her neck. For the first time she felt Commander’s skin on her own skin. It seemed like there were only two of them in the whole world. She did not remember when they took off what they were wearing and laid on bed. In fact, after Cullen kissed her, her mind seemed to have gone to another dimension.

She could only feel his touch on her breasts and his tongue on her neck. She could only hear their gasps. When Cullen lifted his head, he saw Enaste’s delicate face in pleasure, and after watching her wavy hair scattered on the pillow for a short moment, he slowly moved downwards kissing her body.

Enaste saw Cullen gently opened her legs a little more when she looked at him. He started to kiss the small bud where all her nerves tangled and from then on it was like a dream. After a while her body was jolted as if it had been struck by an electric shock because of the pleasure explosion that she felt between her legs. She had to bite her mouth in order not to throw a loud cry of pleasure. She had decided not to announce Commander’s love life to whole Skyhold.

The flower smell that was spreading from her body kept his heartbeat fast. While he was tasting and enjoying, she tried close her legs involuntarily because of the orgasm she had. He stopped her and pushed her groin into the bed tightly. Between Enaste's legs was pretty wet. He slowly stood up and put his manhood slowly into her as it was begging for a relieve. He was trying to be as gentle and slow as he could.

Enaste groaned when Cullen made his move into her.  She had never experienced such a feeling before. When Commander went further, her body contracted because of the pain she felt in her groin. Enaste realized that she was a woman now. Cullen also stopped due to her reaction. He was hesitant, he was breathing harshly.

"Do you want me to pullback?"

"No.”  Enaste groaned, tightened her legs around his waist to prevent him.

The pain had already gone, and she certainly did not want to stop. Cullen slowly and cautiously began moving his hips again, she could not stop a brief scream of pleasure from her mouth. It did not take too long to reach the summit for them.

Cullen slowly pulledback and laid beside her then pulled Enaste to him. She turned to Cullen and put her one leg over him. Soon after, both of them fell into a deep sleep.

Cullen did not remember for how long he had not such a deep and dreamless sleep. It's been a while since he stopped using Lyrium. He was no longer a Templar, after his Order had been destroyed and he had seen what happened to Templars who were destituted of lyrium. So he decided to quit.

Corypheus easily attracted most Templars to his side by the help of red lyrium. Therefore emotions such as honor, accountability and loyalty easily lost their meaning to an addictive substance. Quitting Lyrium was also a physical burden. Excessive thirst, headaches, and a lot of other symptoms ended in two weeks. But the nightmares were still going on. It seemed like their frequency was slightly lower, but they did not go away completely. He could recall most of his dreams when he woke up, the horrible, vivid repetition of moments in Kirkwall.

However this morning, when he opened his eyes, no matter how hard he forced his memory, he could not catch any image. He had just woken up, rested and renewed. He tilted his head down slightly, he saw Enaste, who was still sleeping on his arm. Cullen did not believe in the elven gods or the legends of them because he was bound to the religion of Chantry. Still, he thought there may be a magical side of her. In order not to awaken Enaste, he tried pulled his arm gently to get up the bed.

She murmured in her sleep and turned her back. Cullen admirably watched her curved body, which resembled a painting. Then he whispered to her ear that he should go not expecting her to hear him as she was in a deep sleep. But Enaste turned back to him with her half-opened eyes and smiled. It was not just her body but her face in the daylight seemed to emerge from the brush of an artist. Cullen realized that he wanted to stay in this bed with Enaste forever. He got up reluctantly and wore his clothes.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enaste shakes with the losing of a close friend. Her reckless move for revenge will not meet lightly by Cullen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your comments, kudos, bookmarks and reads.

A few days later, Pharon came to Skyhold. He met with his advisors in the War Room. He had been informed that Corypheus was going to Arbor Wilds in the west. Leliana had learned through her spies that he was chasing after an old elven artifact. If he seized this object, he would be able to enter the Fade to reach the City of the Gods, or to release all the evil forces in the Fade on Thedas in order to be one god. The threat was serious, and something had to be done right away. Pharon now believed that the Inquisition army was strong enough to enter a war with Corypheus' forces. So it was decided to go in a battle in Arbor Wilds. The decision was immediately shared with the commanders of the army units.

All of the commanders were summoned to Cullen's office. Enaste saw Arrian out of his room. He wiped his mouth with his arm nervously. She knew what he had been doing. He had taken Blood Lotus extract. Enaste went to him quickly, holding his arm.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, "Your mind must be clearer now than ever," Arrian pulled his arm in anger.

"I think you will understand me when you see the battlefield Little Elf” he said, before he turned and started to walk.

"I think you should take it, too. You know where my booty is. " he said with a nervous smile.

Commander Cullen had a serious and determined expression on his face. The table was pulled up to the middle of the room. So the commanders could create a circle around the table and examine the Arbor Wilds map on it. There were various metal figures on the map. Each figure represented a special unit.

Enaste was standing in front as she was not tall. There was Arrian right behind her. In order to see the map better, he leaned forward by holding her shoulder. Both of them had a very serious and careful expression on their faces. Cullen had finished his briefing then all the commanders began to leave the room. The young woman had hesitated as she wanted to say good-bye to Cullen. But it would be difficult to do so without revealing anything. Since Arrian realized her dilemma, he held her arm and stopped her pretending that he was going to tell something important. Once the last commander left the room, Arrian quickly went to the door.

 "You do not have much time," He blinked then left Cullen and Enaste alone.

Cullen came to Enaste and hugged her without hesitation.

"Do not try to be a hero and do not leave Arrian's side." he whispered. He was praying for Enaste to return to him alive.

Enaste reluctantly left his arms.

"I'll be careful," she gave him a little kiss on the lips then left the room.

Enaste reached to the peak of the hill, she looked down. She had never seen such a scene in her life. The army of the Inquisition and the troops of Corypheus had come face to face in a plain surrounded by the forest. There was a dark cloud hanging over the battlefield because of the smoke from the giant flames that originated from magic or catapults. Therefore it was not possible to see everything clearly. The cries of humans and creatures created a big hum that was rising to sky. From time to time, there were green flashes in this ominous painting.

These were the temporary rifts opened by the mages on the side of Corypheus to bring demons for support. Some of the mages who supported the Inquisition were trying to defeat the enemy with all their power. The soldiers were clashing with Red Templars who were in the front lines. Enaste’s heart was throbbing hard due to sense of fear and panic. She touched the pendant on her neck given by the elf boy in Hinterlands without noticing. Suddenly she jumped out of place because of a hand on her shoulder, Arrian.

"Do you regret that you did not take the Blood Lotus extract I offered you, Little Elf?" He said with great seriousness and quickly stepped forward to lead the archers to the point where their troops were waiting down the hill. The young woman gathered herself and tried to keep up with him.

The union under leadership of Enaste and Arrian was going to support the soldiers who were dealing with a Behemoth. When red lyrium completely took over a body of a person, he became Behemoth if he was strong enough. Most of the Red Templars were turned into red monsters covered with red lyrium shards however there were not many Behemoths. There were few points of the defense line that the Inquisition army tried to protect. At these points they encountered these huge monsters therefore strong units of sorcerers, archers and army squads were sent for support.

Archers began to shoot from a safe distance, both the soldiers and Behemoth seemed to be quite tired of fighting. The moves of the beast became heavy because of the strikes he received, but he was still fighting. Arrian and Enaste were making their fastest shots, but it did not seem to work. They could not create enough damage in monster’s thick skin covered with shards. Arrian’s arrows were finished.

"Protect me," he said to Enaste, drawing his daggers.

"Are you out of your mind?" the woman said in panic. Even with the big swords in their hands, it took hours for the soldiers to weaken the monster.

"There are archers, soldiers, a lot of things to keep him occupied, he won’t realize me. If I can get close enough, I can discover a weak point that these idiots can not see "

"Or you will die." Enaste said firmly. "The creature is tired enough, not much time left."

"There are a few more of these, Little Elf." said Arrian nervously. "If we do not kill them quickly one of them will pass the line of defense"

He did not let her talk more and ran to the monster. The creature was big and lump, Arrian was smaller and agile. By taking advantage of this, he quickly turned around the beast avoiding its hits. He found the spot he was looking for. Behind its knee, there was a section that was much thinner than the other parts, where red lyrium particles had just started budding. He held on to creature’s leg by keeping himself safe then opened a deep slit there with his dagger. He leaped back with the painful cry of the creature. Now the beast, knowing that the end has arrived, fell on its injured knee. Behemoth knew that it had made a big mistake and never thought the time would come to use its last defensive weapon in combat.

The last move would probably kill all the soldiers around it, but required a lot of energy. Exhaustedly the monster placed its two arms in the soil, transforming the tiny mineral particles in the earth into red lyrium shards, which merged out of the ground in the form of large, pointed piles around the creature. It only lasted a few seconds, but Behemoth managed to catch Arrian with a few unfortunate soldiers. The other soldiers luckily standing away from the shards were frozen for a moment. Enaste was trying to figure out the moment she had witnessed in her mind. When the red piles disappeared, she saw Arrian falling on the ground with others. Everything was within a few seconds, but for the young woman it was like hours. She aimed for the last time trying to move her numbed body; she did not know where to shoot.

At that time she saw a hole in the head of the kneeling creature that she thought was an ear, and shoot there without hesitation. The beast's dead body fell forward. Enaste ran towards the creature with all her strength. Arrian was lying face down on the ground. Enaste rolled him and looked at the red spots on his chest. Arrian's eyes were half-open, he coughed by spitting plenty of blood. Enaste ordered survived soldiers to carry Arrian to the camp.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Arrian was laid on a matress in the medical tent. There were a lot of wounded soldiers inside. Enaste saw a doctor was leaning on the elf, and a bunch of bandages in blood. She went to the doctor slowly, the man turned his head, looked at Enaste and sadly shook his head. Then he went away so that she could say goodbye properly. Enaste looked at Arrian. His face was pale because of blood loss. She held his cold hands tightly as if she wanted to warm them. Arrian opened his eyes recognized her and smiled: "Little Elf" he whispered. It was almost impossible to talk because his lungs were constantly filling with blood. He wanted to say a lot of things to his friend, but that was no longer possible.

"Arrian," Enaste sobbed lightly.

Arrian braced Enaste’s hands with his last piece of strenghth.

"Enaste, do not worry." Then he closed his eyes and gave his last breath. Enaste could not stop her body shaking with uncontrolled sobs. She placed Arrian’s hands slowly on his chest. Enaste stood by her friend for a while then took his daggers. She felt a strange loneliness, a part of her died with Arrian. In a short time, her sadness left its place to a great sense of anger and revenge. She stormed out of the tent.

Inquisitor was talking to one of the soldiers who was standing in front of him about how the battle was going. The soldier said that Corypheus's army was weak and they were about to win the war. She then said that Corypheus was headed north toward an elven ruin.

Their talk finished as Enaste came up quickly. "Inquisitor, I want to come with you." she said.

Pharon squinted his eyes with doubt looking at her face wet with tears. "What happened?" he asked slowly.

Enaste gave the news of Arrian's death. Her voice was shaking.

"You want revenge, Enaste, but this is a very dangerous mission. Maybe we will not come back." Pharon said. His voice was gentle and soft.

"Please, Inquisitor we are in a war, we all can die at any moment?"

Pharon restlessly moved and then grunted. "The more, the merrier." He went to his group. Enaste walked behind him, trying to keep up with his steps.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pharon quickly introduced her to the party. They went to the depths of the forest without wasting time. Pharon walked along with Cassandra Penthagast ahead of Solas, Morrigan and Iron Bull behind them. Enaste was moving in the same pace with them from behind. After she was introduced to the group, the young woman was buried in a deep silence, not talking again. For this reason, Pharon had to explain Arrian's death to others.

After a while Iron Bull was unable to stand the sadness of the young woman any longer. "I'm sorry for your loss." He said with a strong and thick voice.

Enaste had never seen a creature like Iron Bull before. She had to stop and lifted her head high to say thank you. Iron Bull from the Qunari race was long, built and even taller than Pharon. He had long horns and pointed ears on his head. There were various war paints on his body and he wore a band on his left eye. His other eye was in silver color. Enaste stood beside the man like a little trinket.

"I had lost a close friend a while ago." continued Iron Bull.

She walked looking ahead, giving no response. But she soon realized that she could not get rid of him in this way.

"We were in an island. A group of Tal-Vashoth had poisoned school children. I decided to take revenge for it. I went their place with my men. We got into a fight, my best friend was killed. And I lost myself. Some of my men had gone to call for help, and when they came back they found me in the middle of a blood lake and there were bodies around me. Including civilians ... " Iron Bull said in a dark tone.

"I'm sorry for your lost." Enaste replied sincerely. They lived in a difficult world to survive. Tragic events could happen to almost everybody, yet the burning fire inside her had not gone away.

"The fire of revenge is very burning, Little Flower." He said islowly. "It can burn anyone around you and even you." Enaste looked at Iron Bull with eyes full of questions.

"Little Flower?"

"Yes, even now, I can smell the mild flower scent that you've been spreading." Qunari smiled

The young woman was sweating because of the heavy air of the forest, there was blood and dust on her.

"Will not anyone ever call me by my name?" She grunted and speeded up the steps. However, Iron Bull caught the young woman with his huge steps.

"I apologize if I offended you. I am a friendly person. Even so…"

Enaste shrugged her shoulders.

"You can call me whatever you want.” She said finally.

 The army of Corypheus was also spreaded into the forest, so the battle continued here as well. There was a Red Templar camp in front of them. Pharon, Cassandra and Iron Bull ran forward when they saw the enemy fighting with the Inquisition troops. All three were very powerful and experienced warriors. While Solas and Morrigan supported them with spells, Enaste found a safe spot for herself and began to shoot.

While the conflict was about to end, Enaste saw few elves came out from no where with a black smoke around them aiming at the party with their arrows. They were wearing bright yellow armors, they were archers.

"Elves?" She was surprised.

Corypheus was a common enemy, but these elves attacked both the Red Templars and them. After the group also killed the last elven archers, Enaste again loudly replied:

"Elves?"

"Guards." Morrigan said. "This forest belongs to the ancient elves. They must be attacking to protect the forest. I already told that the ancient elf magic was still in this land."

Morrigan was leading them to the Temple of Mythal, where Corypheus’ men also headed. Her black hair and sharp, yellow eyes made her a witch that everyone should be afraid of. There was a costant emanating energy from her skin, it was obvious she felt no cold as she was wearing little pieces of clothes. However there was nothing sexy about the strong and scary magic energy she had. She seemed to know a lot about elves.

Enaste put her hand on her pendant, trying to feel it beneath her uniform. Since entering the forest, the stone around her neck seemed to have warmed up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morrigan brought them to the Temple of Mythal through a calm route far from the conflicts, so that the speed of the group could not be cut off. They were on an old water ark and the Venatori agents fighting below did not see them along with Inquisition soldiers under Cullen's command. Enaste swallowed, kneeled immediately so that Cullen would not see her. If the commander found out why she had come here, he certainly would send her back. She did not want that. Enaste knew that she committed an important crime by leaving her union in the camp however did not care. The warriors of the party went down and joined the Inquisition troops for fight. Morrigan and Solas took a different position.

Venatori troops met the Inquisition troops in front of a narrow, long entrance over a large wall. They were crowded. Enaste began to shoot, hoping that she would not take attention. After the entrance of the temple cleared, she went down and joined the party. Cullen's eyes caught Enaste when he finished talking to Pharon. There was a mixture of surprise and anger on his face, it was good that no one, including the Inquisitor, was looking at them. But the young woman realized that Cullen did not care. Enaste did not move, her stubborn expression made it clear she had already given her decision. Pharon called everyone to enter the temple, she slowly turned back and walked.

They saw the light at the end of the long, narrow corridor. This was opening up to a high balcony. Below was a bridge over the giant waterfalls and big trees. A magnificent Mythal sculpture greeted them. At the entrance of the bridge were two large stone columns placed on right and left. Pharon and Morrigan were ahead of the group, when they heard the voices, they signaled others to take shelter on the edge of the balcony and not to look outside. So Enaste, Solas and Iron Bull were hidden on both sides of the balcony entrance.

She could hear fragments of a conversation due to bursting sound of the waterfall. There was a woman’s voice and another one was blood freezing. Enaste guessed that this voice belonged to Corypheus. She thought she heard also Elvish. A few minutes later, there was a huge explosion. When everything calmed down, they went down the balcony. The columns at the entrance of the bridge had collapsed with the explosion. The bodies were scattered. Enaste wondered if Corypheus died in the explosion. After a few seconds, one of the bodies on the ground began to contract, then straightened up on his knees as if lifted by an invisible hand, his head twisted back unnaturally. Now he was staring at sky with his sightless eyes. All the group members watched this scene with terror. When a black, dark-colored fluid sprang from the mouth of the body, they all jumped back. Then the dead man began to shake more violently, Enaste heard the uncomfortable, tearing and shattering sounds from the body.

Morrigan sounded fearful "It can not be.”

Meanwhile, Pharon had already made his way towards the bridge entrance and called the others. Enaste decided that it was best not to look behind while running as fast as she could towards the end of the bridge. She knew Corypheus was behind them, but she was not ready for the shadow of the huge wings falling on the bridge. She prayed to gods that her legs would not tangle while running. All together they threw themselves behind the big door at the bridge’s end and immediately pushed the heavy door wings. While the door was about to close, she saw the flames coming down on the thin line between the two wings. They shut the door in time so that the flames could not pass the magical barrier of the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They reached to Mythal’s Sanctuary. There was a discussion between Pharon, Morrigan and Cassandra. Apparently they had some new information from the conversations until the explosion. Corypheus came to the temple to find the "Well of Sorrows". They did not know what it was. However, if Corypheus personally came here to find it, it should have been very important.

Enaste learned that Calpernia and her agents were also ahead of them. Hearing the name of the woman gave her chills. She remembered the mage woman trying to infiltrate Skyhold who worked for Calpernia. They caught up Calpernia and her soldiers in the Hall of Shrines, they saw that they had opened a tunnel on the ground with explosives. After she gave orders to her soldiers to attack Pharon’s party she disappeared in the tunnel they opened. It was easy to beat the soldiers because no matter how talented they were, they could have been killed more easily than the other monsters who fought for the Corypheus. After the conflict ended Morrigan and Solas wanted to complete a series of elf rituals and wanted to follow the longer path. So they would be sure when they found the "Well of Sorrows" they could use it correctly.

"There is no time for any ritual." Pharon said with a sharp voice. "Thousands of people die outside and their destiny depends on stopping Calpernia. The longer we stay here, the more soldiers die. "

Enaste thought he sounded like her father for a moment. Sarren also became an impossible man to argue if he made a decision in a matter. The young woman also knew elven legends, it might be risky to use "The Well of Sorrows" without completing the rituals, but it would cost a lot of soldiers' lives as Pharon said, and Inquisitor was not a mage or a scholar. He was a warrior and a commander. He did not want to follow a road they could not be sure of. They cut off a thick branch for everyone from nearby trees to prepare torches. Despite all the objections of Solas and Morrigan, they entered the tunnel.

The tunnel was opening to the catacombs. Enaste felt a shivering on her back. After all the creatures she had encountered so far, fear of darkness was nonsense but still she could not prevent the acceleration of her heart. Under her uniform, she once again felt the warmth of her pendant. Pharon turned to her.

"You're a hunter, I think you're the best candidate to track them down." he muttered with a slight smile.

Enaste went forward to follow the traces she could see in the light of the torches. She was able to see the muddy footprints and the fresh hand marks on the damp walls as they started following without losing time. She thought that she might have been rusted as this was her first hunt after a long time, however the first hints emerged her hunter instincts again. Iron Bull was walking behind her to protect her from a sudden attack.

"Wow, Little Flower." The giant man muttered after a while, trying to keep his voice low, "You're like a hunting dog. Do you smell them in the dark? "

Enaste smiled. "Maybe."

Hours later they came to a big door. When they entered, they met a large hall. Pharon acted calmly against the elven guards who appeared behind them. Another guard met them at a high balcony.

"Invaders." The elf barked, he was arrogant and there was an expression on his face as if he was staring at a bug. "My name is Abelas, one of the temple guardians. And you are defiling this holy place with your presence. I'll give you a chance to go now. "

Pharon did not break his posture. "Those who came before us ..."

"We will take care of them." Abelas answered coldly. But knew that it would not be easy even for the elven guards considering Calpernia and the power behind her.

"We can help you. They are enemy to both of us."

"Every invader who enters this Holy Temple and awakens us from our slumber, is our enemy. You came to drink from the Well of Sorrows like the others, but none of you can get in there. It is for chosen ones.”

“The chosen ones? "Pharon was confused.

Morrigan suddenly cut in. "Maybe he is referring to the ancientt priests." However no one had left from Elvhenan anymore.

Pharon was impatient to follow Calpernia, and every minute he lost was crucial to the warrior.

“We did not come here for the Well of Sorrows” Pharon tried to hide his impatience. "We are just trying to prevent those had arrived before us from reaching it. We will leave when we are done.” Morrigan's face changed. Perhaps if the witch did not speak at that moment, things could have developed differently. "So should we lose our only weapon against Corypheus?”

Abelas looked at them, his face had a sinister experession. "We will not allow anyone to get into the Well of Sorrows. We must protect it, even if it means to destroy it.” Then he left.

"No!" Morrigan cried and suddenly she turned into a raven and flew behind the guard. No one had a chance to make a move. They had no choice but to fight the elven guards who were aiming at them.

Despite the fact that Morrigan left them in a difficult situation, they somehow managed to kill the guards and reach to the Well.

The woman was staring at a hill with great admiration. It must have been the Well of Sorrows.

"Calpernia!" The mage heard Pharon's voice, she calmly turned to him.

"Inquisitor, we both got here. But we know very well who will drink from the Well.” Calpernia's troops had already drawn their weapons.

Inquisitor asked, "What makes this well so special?" On the other hand, he was trying to figure out how to fight and where to take position.

The mage shrugged her shoulders. "I think I can give you a little explanation before I kill you. The Well of Sorrows is the source of true wisdom. The person who drinks from it will have this wisdom and I am this person. Nobody can stand by us to reach our goal. I’ll be the vessel to carry this knowledge to our master.”

"He's using you as he can’t touch something so pure." Pharon said sarcastically, "It's not surprising."

The mage obviously became angry.

"I guess that's enough chatting. Now is the time to fulfill my duty. "She signaled to his soldiers.

Pharon's party took their place. Cassandra and Iron Bull took action when the soldiers made a move towards Pharon. Solas lifted his staff for his spells. Morrigan had not disrupted her bird form watching the developments from a high tree branch. When both sides drew their weapons, the witch also flew down and took the human form.

Enaste had a higher spot in her sight. As an archer, it seemed easier to support her group from here. There was only one soldier between the hill and her, she pulled Arrian’s daggers and killed the soldier in cold blood then went to the point she wanted in a few leaps. Meanwhile, Calpernia had opened up a magic shield for herself as she knew very well that they would not be defeated by ordinary soldiers. So she lifted her staff in her left hand and opened a rift. She could call one demon each time, but she thought that after a few times the demons would finish them.

Enaste shuddered with the voice in her mind when she aimed at the demon.

"Don’t be afraid. It’s me, Morrigan," the witch whispered. "And do not look at me or mage will understand our plan. Let us take care of the demon. You focus on Calpernia's shield. She needs a great energy to protect the shield and open a rift. Your arrows can make this energy run out in a short time. "

Enaste frowned.

"How did you get into my mind and are you sure it will work?" She asked.

"Honey, all the witches can enter a proper mind. And yes our plan will work."

Enaste turned her bow towards Calpernia. Morrigan was very impressed by the calmness of the woman. She did not have a brief and clear interview with someone else whose mind she had entered before. After a while, Calpernia's magic shield began to weaken due to the physical strikes of arrows, and the witch was right, she could only open three rifts. Protecting the shield consumed her energy and she started to feel dizzy. Calpernia murmured a spell angrily and created a firewall around her. She would only use this as shield now. She also noticed that Enaste’s arrows were finished and sent a fire ball to Pharon and others where she fought. Enaste heard that Cassandra was screaming something, so she took Pharon and Iron Bull in a bright sphere along with her. Calpernia screamed furiously, her troops were already dead, and the demon she had called was about to die. For the last time she gathered her energy to attack Morrigan and Solas, the flame shield around her suddenly faded. Pharon’s party killed the demon in front of them then all turned towards the mage. Calpernia understood that she was stalemated, gave up fighting, and with great exhaustion she took support from her staff. She looked at Cassandra and Pharon, with furious eyes who were walking towards her. She murmured something then disapperaed. When she appeared again she was next to Enaste. Enaste caught the witch's ankle by getting over her astonishment and did not know what to do.

Nobody could have guessed the little knives that Calpernia hid in her gloves. She turned to Enaste and stabbed the young woman with her free hand. She could not understand what was happening, her eyes winked in surprise. The pain followed. She unwittingly left the mage and took her hands to her stomach.

"My fall will not be from your hands." Calpernia said in a rage and jump into the deep valley behind her.

Enaste saw her hands in blood when she pulled them from her belly. She felt dizzy. She tried not to faint but her vision was already cloudy.

Iron Bull shouted as her body was almost falling. "Little Flower!"

It was not hard for him to catch the woman falling from the edge. The dark spot on her leather armor was growing. Solas hurried to his side. Meanwhile, the guard Abelas appeared behind them. Knowing the distraction of party he quickly started running towards Well of Sorrows. His aim was to destroy the well. He made a spell to make a stairway to the well; but it was not possible for him to be faster than Morrigan, who flew to the top again in the form of a bird. Pharon ran up after Morrigan and Abelas to prevent another madness. Cassandra followed him.

Iron Bull kept Enaste in his arms. Solas kneeled beside the two of them:

"There is not much I can do. I can slow the bleeding but I can not stop it. My gut tells me that we should not wait here too much. He said. He whispered something putting his hand on the bleeding spot. "When we get out of here, the spell will not last long. We must take her to Skyhold immediately.” The mage murmured. They hastily moved toward to join the others.

Enaste did not remember much after that. At a distance she heard Iron Bull's words.

"Hang in there, Little Flower." She also heard Morrigan and Pharon. She remembered a bright light before everything was buried in the darkness. The young woman did not know that they had used an eluvian for escape. It was believed that Arlathan was the only registered city of Elvhenan, the kingdom of the first elves. Dalish were always telling this city in their stories. The elves living in Arlathan used large, magical mirrors, which they called "eluvian" to travel distant points or communicate with each other. Most of the eluvians were either destroyed or locked away after the city of Arlathan was captured by the Tevinter Empire. In some parts of Thedas there was still talk about the existence of hidden eluvians, but the exact location of them was unknown.

It was too late when Corypheus caught up Pharon’s party. Morrigan had drunk from the Well of Sorrows and opened the eluvian so they escaped through it. They finally arrived to Skyhold.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Enaste opened her eyes, she saw the young nurse. As she tried to straighten up she felt a deep pain in her belly and groaned. The nurse helped her.

"Where am I?" Enaste asked, frowning.

"At Skyhold, in the infirmary," the nurse said in a low voice. "Thanks to mage Solas and your doctor, you are still with us. Thank you Andraste! "

"How long have I been unconcious?"

"It's only two days." She smiled. "The wound you got was serious, but you are recovering fast. Our doctor said he hoped that you would be healed in two weeks.”

In the following days, she felt sad that only Pharon and Iron Bull came to visit her. She wanted to ask where Cullen was, but there was nobody around to ask without revealing things too much. She decided to wait quietly and to see him personally when she got up. She remembered the anger in Cullen's eyes very well before entering the Temple of Mythal. However it would be correct to confront the Commander.

Two weeks in the infirmary was very difficult and boring. She sometimes had short conversations with doctors and nurses. When she started walking, they wanted her not to go too far from the infirmary, and it took some time for the young woman's legs to regain power again. A nurse came with the clothes on the day she was fully recovered and was going to leave the infirmary but these clothes were not her uniform.

Enaste turned her serious and questioning looks from the clothes to the nurse, the woman replied with a restless smile.

"A soldier told me to leave them to you. He also wanted me to tell you that Commander Cullen returned from a very long travel today and wants to meet with you. "

It was clear why Cullen did not appear around, but the clothes were not explained to her. Enaste took the clothes without responding and began to dress when she was alone in the room. She looked in her stomach she saw a little scar on the right side. Unwittingly she touched it. She had mixed feelings, finished dressing and got out of the room. The nurse was waiting for her:

"The commander is waiting for you in his office." She said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Enaste was aware that something was not right because of the clothes and the fact that a soldier did not accompany her. When she entered Cullen's office, and closed the door, she realized that it would not be easy for her to be strong against his eyes. They were reflecting a great anger. The young woman felt that she was crushed under the heavy silence in the room. Still, she let Cullen to break it.

"You left your place of duty." The Commander said icily. He stood with his arms crossed behind his desk.

"I went behind the enemy," she said slightly lifting her chin and trying to look as strong as she could. "You know ... They ... They killed Arrian." She hoped that Commander would at least understand this much.

"It was not the order you were given, was it?" Cullen was trying to keep his voice under control.

He wanted to scream his thoughts, but as the Commander of the Inquisition, he had enemies everywhere, with eyes and ears. If his love and commitment to the young woman were spreaded around it would bring nothing but danger and pain to both of them. And Enaste alone could make Cullen suffer enough without needing any enemy. The young woman had come to Skyhold before Cullen because she was brought through eluvian while returning from Mythal's Temple. He still remembered the fear and panic that he had felt when he arrived to Skyhold and learned that Enaste was seriously injured. He tried to stay calm and went to see her in the infirmary. He saw her lying unconscious in the bed with a pale face. He almost felt that all his blood was drawn from his body. The doctor told what Solas had done therefore it would be possible to heal Enaste, but Cullen still could not relax. What he saw on that day was engraved in his mind.

Enaste replied slowly to Commander's question. "No, it was not. Maybe you do not find right what I did, Commander. But I would regret if I had not followed them." She could not help her trembling voice. "My closest friend died in my arms."

"So you decided to kill yourself too?" The pain in Cullen's voice was clear. He also felt sorry for Arrian's death. He would never forget what his friend had done for him but Enaste's death was much more frightening and painful to imagine for the Commander.

"We are at war." Enaste replied. "Death is inevitable, is not it?"

"Maker! How stubborn she is." Cullen thought. Why did not she want to understand that he was trying to protect her because he loved her? He was aware of the war, but if she let him, he could protect her as much as he could.

Enaste once again felt Arrian's absence intensely. If she had known that she would have seen her friend out of this room she would have stood stronger to Commander’s fury.

Cullen put his hands on his desk. He was no longer trying to control his tone.

"You left your union and left the battlefield without my approval. These are important crimes and have no light sentences. You were dismissed from the army because you disobeyed your Commander's orders."

Enaste was already expecting such a punishment. She went to the Temple, knowing it.

"I talked to Inquisitor. He thinks that you are valuable to the Inquisition, so he will find you another task within the organization. We have to wait for Pharon for this change of duty. Until that time It is forbidden for you to go out of Skyhold".

"You can not do that!" She was surprised and angry because she thought it was unfair.

"Yes, I can do. Pharon has a direct order on this. You will not be given a mission outside the castle until he comes back. Maybe he knows what to do with you because I do not know.” Cullen said nervously.

"When will the Inquisitor come back?"

"I guess he will not be back for a long time." Cullen was looking at the map in front of him as if he was not interested in her anymore.

"What am I going to do?" Enaste tried not to cry.

"I do not know." Cullen murmured with the same ice-cold tone of voice. "I think you’ll do anything that comes to your mind. I can not stop you, can I? "

"No," Enaste said angrily. "You can not." She opened the door without waiting for Cullen to reply and left the room. As she walked away quickly, she heard the noises of the things on Cullen’s desk were thrown and the door was slammed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next days were not easy for her. She knew that she had to do something besides crying in her room. One morning, while sitting in the garden, she got out of her thoughts with a familiar voice. Solas was standing beside her.

"Is there a problem ma' fenor esha'lin?"

Enaste looked up at the mage, her eyes looked tired and unhappy.

"I am no longer the commander of the archery union." She said. Solas sat next to the young woman, there was a serious expression on his face.

"Yes, I heard.”

"I want to help. It's boring to sit idle like this being useless. I can not fight, I can not hunt, I can not do anything I know. She said angrily. "Did you also know that I was not allowed to leave Skyhold?"

For the first time, Solas had a surprise expression on his face. "No, but there should be a reason for this?"

The young woman shrugged her shoulders without responding. Of course there was a reason, Cullen was punishing Enaste as she did something against his will and somehow he managed to persuade also Inquisitor for a punishment. Still, it would not have been useful to say it to Solas. Solas was watching the young woman thoughtfully. Suddenly he smiled.

"Dr. Reed had request from me a while ago. He wanted to investigate the Dalish medicine. But he did not find anyone in the castle to help him. "

Enaste was surprised. "There are Dalish among the nurses?” She asked.

"I guess he would not ask me if he could get help from them. I have a lot of work to do so I am very happy if you can help the doctor."

Enaste happily accepted the proposal at the end.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Together they went to Doctor Ethan Reed's study room. His room was in the main building of Skyhold. At the entrance of the quarter where the Inquisition mages work, there were stairs descending to the ground opening to a large room. Since there was no daylight, there were many torches hanging on the wall. Actually, it would be better to say it was a laboratory. The large bookshelves leaning against the wall were filled with books. On two large tables there were mechanisms that Enaste had not seen before. On a corner, there was a large, massive desk with various papers on it. On another corner, there were bottles in various sizes and colors on the long shelves.

Solas did not waste time with introduction ceremony. Because Enaste already knew the doctor who treated her. The young man was not very handsome. There was an intelligent and friendly look in his bright blue eyes. Her hair and beard was long, and it was apparent that he had not made them trimmed for a long time. He was shorter than the commander. His body was not built but strong. As soon as Solas went, the doctor smiled gently.

"Thank you very much for your help."

Enaste did not remember how long she stayed with the doctor. She remembered some of Varosa's remedies very well. While she was describing these recipes, the doctor kept notes with a serious expression on his face.

In the later hours, the young man rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"It would be good if we could continue tomorrow. Can you help in the preparation of medicines? I usually go to the infirmary during the day and I am trying to make new medicines here at night. As a single person I do not have a chance to catch up with all the things. After the war in Arbor Wilds, the infirmary was almost overflowing and everyone is working in the infirmary, so I could not find myself an assistant. "

The young woman knew that the last war ended in victory, but the Inquisition lost too many soldiers. Recovery of the army would be long. The doctor's proposal made her happy. Working late at night, sleeping without thinking about anything and working hard again the next day is a chance for Enaste.

"Of course I will help." Enaste smiled happily. "but if you tell me exactly what to do ..."

The doctor told what she needed to do next day and gave her the key to his laboratory. They did not seem like hard work. Enaste left the laboratory with happiness.

The next day she saw the young man coming out of Arrian's old room as she went back to the lab. This was Arthur who was sent to take her from the Hinterlands. He recognized Enaste. He went on his way in haste after giving a quick and shy salute. So she met with new commander of the archery union and the new owner of Arrian's chamber.

_Enaste thought, "at least they did not get me out of the room."_

Because she was so accustomed to having a private living space for her, she would probably go crazy if she lost it too.

Working with doctor was going well. The young woman told all the drug descriptions she could remember. Now she was helping to make them. Ethan was very pleased with Enaste's silence and hard work. He never liked the distraction when he was working in his lab. Enaste was also intelligent and quick to learn. So it did not take them too long to put together a working system. Enaste quickly adapted to Ethan's rigorous and disciplined work style.

It had been a few weeks. They were working with Ethan in the lab. The young man was sitting on his desk and waded into his notes in front of him. Enaste was busy crushing the plant leaves in front of her without ever talking. She decided to break the silence with all her courage.

"Doctor Reed?"

Ethan turned his distant gaze into Enaste. It seemed as if he had seen her for the first time in his life, and then he gathered himself.

"Yes Enaste?"

The young man could not convince Enaste to call him by name. There was a definite border between the woman and him since the first day. Ever since they started working together, Enaste's days have been passed between this laboratory and her room, but the young woman has not complained for a day. Ethan was wondering for a moment whether she had a man in her life. It's a bit strange that a young woman like her was left alone in a place full of men.

"Will you teach me to read?"

The doctor was once again surprised. He blinked and Ennaste repeated her question.

"Why do you want to learn to read?" Ethan asked.

"If I learn to read, I think I have a better chance of helping you than you are now. If you have time, of course. " Enaste replied shyly.

"Of course, I think we can spare a couple of hours for it."

Enaste has gained more work for herself. Her mind had filled with thoughts of Cullen again once she got used to Ethan's work pace. According to what she heard, Inquisitor Pharon was fighting in far places with Corypheus's supporters. His return would take a long time. The Commander also worked continuously to gather the strenghth of the army. Enaste wanted to believe that this was the reason why she had not seen him. The opposite was frightening her. She knew that Cullen was angry with her, and if this fury caused him to leave her, she would not know how to endure this pain. Especially when she was officially imprisoned in Skyhold.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ethan wrote the alphabet on a sheet of paper. After the work in the lab was over, the young woman put a chair next to him. They sat next to each other, and the doctor, showed her the letters. For the first time in weeks, he noticed the fragrance of her. It was a wonderful flower smell.

"This is a beautiful fragrance." He surprised.

Enaste talked about her mother with a sad smile on her face. He was always curious about Dalish. He was collecting books and notes about them. After the young woman told her mother he thought once again he was fascinated by them.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked. With this direct question, her cheeks blushed.

"No I don’t. And I do not think to have one, "She said nervously. In panic, Ethan realized what he had just said.

"Please do not misunderstand me ..." His blue eyes widened. "I just wondered. I had no bad intention.”

Enaste relaxed. Nevertheless, she did not break her distance. So far, Enaste had been experiencing was enough for her. She graciously pulled the paper infront of her for a better examination and did not look at Ethan’s blushed face. After working for a few more hours, Enaste left the laboratory.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Every evening they started studying reading together after preparing medicines. The doctor was more careful after the conversation between them, which caused him to be quite ashamed. After more than a month, Enaste began to recognize the words. He decided it was time for reading a book, and one evening he was poking around in his chest. He was trying to find simple texts that she could read. He kept his personal items here because he was usually sleeping in his lab. Finally he found a fairy tale book that his mother had used to read him when he was a child. It was a thick book with many stories about knights, dragons and nobles. He found the book, he returned to the young woman with a victory nod. He was covered with dust.

"We can start with this book." He said cheerfully.

Enaste felt very happy. Doctor allowed her to take the book to her room and continue reading. She was very pleased that her life returned to normal again. From time to time she was going to infirmary to help the doctor. During this time, she heard stories about the Commander in conversations between soldiers and nurses. He was constantly away for a duty and worked hard. Although hearing his name was still giving pain, Enaste was determined to move on. It was good to work hard and get tired.

_"A little more patience," She was telling to herself "Then it will be like nothing happened"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Enaste stopped for a moment while trying to read the page infront of her. Ethan seemed to be far away. She noticed that he had been so distracted and upset over the last few days. His mind was constantly in another place.

"Dr. Reed. Is there a problem? "Enaste asked.

"It does not matter," Ethan murmured with a frustrating expression on his face. "Please continue."

"There seems to be a problem. Is there anything I can help you with? "She insisted. Ethan first opened his mouth to give her an answer, but suddenly he was surprised because of what he said.

"Could you teach me Elvish?"

"Elvish? Why?"

She thought she had seen the answer to her question on his face she gathered all her courage to ask:

"What is the name of the lucky woman?" She smiled.

"Do I reveal it too much?" Ethan asked with an upset tone. “Her name is Rinaya." Even as he pronounced her name, his voice trembled with love.

Enaste was very surprised. "Neren’s mother Rinaya?"

Rinaya came to Skyhold with her own clan. She had lost her husband on the way. Now, she was working as a nurse in the infirmary. Rinaya was a little bit different from Enaste. Like almost every Dalish, she did not like humans. She was clever and beautiful, Enaste did not believe that she had not learned Common Language since she came here. But apparently she did not interest in talking.

"Does she know you ..."

Ethan finished the rest of the sentence for her:."I do not know if she likes me too. We can not speak at all.” He was rubbing his nape. Enaste remembered that Cullen was doing the same thing when he felt nervous, and she could not stop herself to feel sad.

"Do you want me to talk to her for you?" She asked slowly.

The doctor's eyes brightened. "Will you do that?"

The next morning Enaste was in front of the nurses’ room. She was waiting patiently for the women to come out so she would be able to talk to Rinaya alone. She questioned why she had agreed to help the doctor for a moment because of the nurses looking at her from head to foot. When everyone was away, she quickly entered the room and locked the door. Rinaya looked surprisedly at Enaste.

"Hello," she said. She was trying to look as natural as she could. There was a suspicious look in Rinaya’s beautiful green eyes.

"Hello," she replied cautiously.

"I will not take your time too much." Enaste had not calculated how to get into the subject until that moment. She thought it would be easy to talk to someone from her own clan. However, it was understood from the attitude of the elf woman that there was no longer a bond between clan members.

"Yes, I would be happy if you don’t." Rinaya’s voice was cold.

"I was with the doctor and…." Enaste said directly.

Rinaya replied in an implied tone without waiting for her to complete her sentence.

"Almost all castle knows that you have been with the doctor for a long time.”

Enaste was surprised and angry. Rinaya stubbornly did not speak Common Language of humans, but she had quickly adopted their habits such as gossip and prejudice. Enaste tried to be patient in order not to create a problem for Ethan.

"He wants to meet with you. Of course, if you wish, too. "

This time, it was Rinaya’s turn to be surprised. Her pale cheeks turned into red.

"Did he tell you about me?" The expressions of excitement and shame were together on her face.

"Yes, he did. He also said how much he liked you." She said briefly.

Rinaya transformed into the excited and shy girl that Enaste remembered in the past.

"I am an elf. How can he fancy me like that? "

Enaste replied in an impatient voice.

"He wanted me to teach him Elvish so he can talk to you. He's a smart guy, but he does not have that much time to learn Elvish to express his feelings on you. Please meet with him and please speak in Common Language. "

Rinaya smiled, actually she was trying not to grin.

"Okay," she said breathlessly. "I'll meet him tonight."

Enaste smiled and thanked. She remembered sadly, when Cullen kissed her for the first time, she had the same stupid expression on her face.

She came out of the infirmary and went to the lab, she stopped and looked at the walls where Cullen's office was. Most of the time she wanted to go to him. To apologize, say that she loved him, and propose to be together again, but Enaste was a very proud woman. Perhaps she would suffer so much in her life because of her pride and stubbornness, but there was nothing she could do. Whenever she looked at the walls, her pride always dominated and ordered her to continue whatever she was doing.

Ethan was anxious when she came to laboratory. Enaste looked at the young man and Arrian came to her mind. If he had been here, he surely would have extended this moment and watched the poor guy with great pleasure.

"She agreed to meet you tonight. Do not worry, Rinaya speaks the Common Language very well.” She crooked a grin.

Ethan came to the young woman in a few steps, hugged her strongly and kissed her lips. There was a big smile on his face when they separated.

"My God, you are like a miracle!" He said excitedly. Enaste turned to her work after she got over her confusion because of the man's enthusiastic reaction.

Ethan was impatient like a child. He was constantly walking around the hourglass he put on his desk. At the end of the night, he quickly left the laboratory. Enaste finished the rest of her work, took the book that Ethan had given her and left the laboratory.

There was a happy smile on her face as she stepped into the main hall. Then she saw Cullen standing in front of the door to Josephine's office, the young woman's smile almost froze. Her face got pale as if she had seen a ghost and her heart was accelerated. He watched Enaste without moving. Enaste pressed the book in her chest as if she wanted to protect it, then walked to the exit with quick steps without looking at him. She was trying to control her tears. The pride that managed her very well until that moment disappeared and left the young woman alone with strange reactions of her body.

Enaste almost ran to her room. She was trying to normalize her breath and not to cry. It was very hard to try to do both at the same time. She waited for a while behind the door of the room, and when she was sure that nobody was coming, she moved away.

She took off her clothes and put on a short shirt. The undergarment of her daily clothes was very long and quite uncomfartable when she lied in bed. So she found herself a shirt from somewhere.

Enaste sat down on her bed and opened the book, but she could not read at all. She was just looking at the words with empty eyes. A few hours later, her door was knocked and she jumped off. Enaste did not know for how long she had been sitting like this. She went to the door in slow steps and opened it. This time Cullen came in without waiting for her invitation and closed the door. He was standing between the door and the young woman as if he wanted to prevent her escape. When she saw him in the main hall he was wearing his armor but now he had his plain clothes on.

"Why are you running away from me?" Cullen asked.

It seemed that he had not lost his anger. Enaste was also nervous and could not look into Cullen's eyes. Telling lie was something she could never do.

"I do not run away from you," She murmured.

"Is that so? Why did not you come to me when you saw me in the main hall?” Enaste swallowed.

"I did not think you might want to talk to me." She said softly. That was true.

Cullen was frowning and his anger somehow did not go away. Enaste was trying not to let him realize that she was afraid from this attitude.

"I heard that you spent a lot of time with the doctor." Cullen said with a tone of voice sharpened by jealousy.

Enaste started to get angry. Cullen had sounded just like Rinaya and this irritated her.

"I had to find something to do in this castle that you imprisoned me. I was not going to sit in a corner without doing anything. Doctor Reed needed help in his work, so I volunteered.”

"Until late in the night?" Cullen's eyes narrowed and the small wrinkles around them gave him a tougher expression. He closed the distance between them slowly. When Cullen was so close to her, Enaste could not think properly. She murmured by pointing the book on her bed.

"He works hard, he teaches me to read when his work is over.” Enaste did not know how Cullen would react, but she was sure she would be hurt if he mocked her.

Commander only thought that she had a limitless power to surprise him. He gently held Enaste's chin with one hand and made her look at him. This time there was a softer expression on his face.

"If I want you to be mine only, will that be too much to ask?" He said slowly.

Enaste thought her heart would stop. The words from her mind were gone again. Talking had never been so difficult. Finally:

"Cullen," She was able to say. "I’m already yours."

As Cullen kissed the young woman, his moves were hungry this time. Enaste responded to him with the same longing. Cullen quickly undressed and lifted the young woman in his arms. Enaste wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. Her sex directly touched Cullen's belly as the skirt of her shirt lifted upwards. As he felt the wetness of Enaste in his belly, he made a short, pleased moan and quickly carried the young woman to bed.

Enaste got rid of her shirt, and when Cullen penetrated her impatiently she groaned in want. The movements of both were more lustful and instinctual than the first night they were together. Cullen bit her neck hard, a small scream of pleasure was released from her lips. As she was holding him tightly, she scratched his back with her nails. This stimulated him more and he made gradually strong, faster and deeper thrusts, as he reached the end he buried his face in Enaste's neck and nodded.

Both of them were panting. They waited quietly until their breathing returned to normal. Then the young woman slowly turned her back to him and prepared to sleep. This time Cullen tightly wrapped around her by putting his leg on hers. It seemed like he was trying to stop her from escaping. But the young woman had no such intention.

Next morning they woke up with the sun. Enaste anxiously stood up in bed.

"Will not they look for you?"

"They do not know where to find me." Cullen said in a relaxed manner. He had another long and peaceful sleep and did not want to leave. He supported his head with one hand and turned towards the young woman in bed. He then saw the bruise on Enaste’s neck and frowned:

"I apologize for your neck." He murmured. She smiled.

"I apologize for your back." Cullen pulled her under his own body, kissing her lips. He watched Enaste’s body convulsing in pleasure when he began moving in her narrow and wet slit. The sunlight was hitting on her long brown hair scattered on the pillow and occasionally led to emergence of red sparkles. Her thin and elegant face was contracting with silent pleasure screams and her eyes were caught by Cullen's eyes time to time. In these brief moments, her eyes seemed to be burning with fires in two different colors, blue and brown. In front of this spectacular painting created by the daylight, the young man felt he was out of breath.

_"Like a goddess," Cullen thought, " to whom I can die and kill.”_

Enaste was constantly touching Cullen to understand if she was in a dream or not. She could not believe that all months filled with unhappiness had come to an end. She also watched the man she loved with great admiration. She prayed to gods that these moments would never end.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a late hour. Cullen was looking at Pharon behind his desk. He was tired and extremely worried. Pharon was fighting with Venatori agents settled in deserted areas where worn out by the effects of previous blights. Venatori presence around there were almost destroyed. Therefore Pharon wanted to come to Skyhold to meet with his advisors and make a plan that would completely kill Corypheus. Shortly after his arrival Leliana urgently called him to the room where the eluvian of Skyhold was placed.

The mirror had been activated. Leliana told Morrigan and her son had disappeared into eluvian. Pharon had gone after them unaware of the great surprise waiting for him in the Fade. Here he met with Morrigan's mother, Flemeth. Flemeth was also a witch, and Morrigan told him that her mother continiously transferred her soul to the people she had chosen inorder to survive. This time she had chosen Morrigan’s son. So she asked Pharon to stop Flemeth.

The old woman actually wanted to transfer her soul to the body of Morrigan's son Kieran, but her intention was not as Morrigan thought. They learned that the witch had carried Mythal’s soul in her body, and she carried the spirit of this ancient elven god for a long enough time. For a reason she could not share with Pharon and Morrigan, she had to go into another body. A body that was younger and more physically capable of fighting in the future. When Flemeth realized that she could not stop Morrigan from saving her son, she gave up giving her soul to the little boy. She had earned the hate of her own daughter because of what had happened in the past, but as a mother she was not too blind to see Morrigan's love for her child.

Mythal, or Flemeth, said that she agreed to use her power to help them defeating Corypheus. Morrigan was now tied to Mythal because she drank from Well of Sorrows, and when the time came she would be given the necessary power to defeat Corypheus’ archdemon which was in a dragon form.

Pharon had shared all the information he had learned in the Fade with Cullen. There was a weapon against Corypheus that would no doubt. The problem was that there was not much support from soldiers. The Arbor Wilds battle weakened the army and some of the soldiers had to be left there to fix the area. Cullen had done everything he could, but he could only compensate for losses with intense work that lasted months, aside from rebuilding the army. He could not give soldiers to Inquisitor. Pharon had to be alone when he had to face Corypheus.

Pharon calmly said. "There is no need for an army. All the warriors I need are already here."

As a mage or warrior, he thought he had the best at Skyhold. If they agreed to go with Pharon, they'd already be as powerful as an army. Inquisition also got the support of an ancient god. Cullen did not recognize anybody who would not agree to fight beside Pharon. That was the biggest problem for him.

"When I say all warriors, I also mean Enaste." Inquisitor pointed. After returning from the Temple of Mythal, they went together to see Enaste in the infirmary. When he saw the young woman lying unconsciously, Cullen tried to be calm, but Pharon was a clever man. This visit was enough for him to suspect something. Later, when Cullen told him that Enaste had to be dismissed from the army and asked him not to send her out of Skyhold, Pharon realized he was in love with the young woman. At that time he had accepted his request without saying anything. Inquisitor also had a secret love, and he was doing his best to protect her.

The commander's face was mixed up, he did not answer Pharon.

"We faced Calpernia in the Temple of Mythal, we would not have been able to defeat the mage so easily without Enaste. She might have acted with her emotions in Arbor Wilds, but this was her first experience of war. Moreover, her injury was unexpected for all of us. It was not her fault."

"I know." Cullen said softly.

"You can not protect her forever, Cullen." Pharon said sharply. "Holding Enaste on your side all the time is not the solution. Besides, she is a strong woman and she can take care of herself”

Cullen put his hands to his temples and felt that a terrible headache was about to come. He was being forced to make a choice that he did not want to as Pharon continued to speak.

"If we can not kill Corypheus, we will lose everything in our possession anyway. If Corypheus wins, he will capture us. You, me, Leliana and Josephine. He will give us enough time to regret about the decisions that we could not make at this moment.”

Cullen looked desperately to the Inquisitor. Pharon was right.

"I'll talk to Enaste, Inquisitor. I'm sure she'll be very happy to be back." He tried to cover his offence, but he was not very successful.

"I have to go for a few days. But when I get back, we have to finish this completely.” Pharon ordered before he left the room.

When they first arrived at Skyhold, they had put a statue of Andraste on a corner away from the eyes. Cullen came here whenever he wanted to pray. Now he was kneeling before the statue and praying to Maker that Enaste would return back to him alive. As a soldier he had experienced many incidents that his faith had been tested, but he did not remember any of them being so compelling.

"Andrastre gave me enough strength to do the right thing." he murmured.

Enaste saw a young soldier talking to a nun when she came out to the garden. The soldier asked the old woman where Commander Cullen was. As she said he had gone to pray soldier hesitated for a moment. Enaste came to him, the young man was trying to decide what to do.

"Is there a message you want to tell the Commander?" She smiled. She knew the soldier and when he saw her he smiled restlessly.

"Yes, my lady. The Commander does not like being disturbed when praying. Maybe I should go back to his office later."

"Is your message important?"

"Actually it is, my lady. Lady Leliana and Lady Josephine are waiting to see him in the War Room for an urgent matter."

"I can save this young man from trouble if you describe me chapel’s place." Enaste said to the nun, trying to look cute. Because she was also wondering where Cullen was. He did not come to see Enaste last night. So the young woman was thinking of going to his office.

Old woman looked at her with disapproval. She knew Enaste was Dalish. Of course it was easy to interrupt the prayer of a religious person for a non-believer. She described the chapel’s location, hoping the commander would correct this disrespectful woman. The soldier looked at Enaste with a great gratitude in his eyes.

Enaste reached the chapel she found Cullen kneeling in front of the statue. She went in quietly.

"Cullen?"

The commander stood up slowly. He returned to Enaste, there was a very exhausted expression on his face. He seemed older than he was. When he saw the young woman he tried to smile.

"Is everything okay?" Enaste did not hide her concern.

"I was praying. This helps me to think properly." After a long hesitation he said. "I talked to Pharon. He said we have a weapon to destroy Corypheus."

Enaste was confused. She thought he should be pleased, but he did not seem to. "What is the problem?"

There was a dark expression on Cullen's face.

"He has to fight with Corypheus with the best warriors in Skyhold. But he cannot take the army since there are not many soldiers. Pharon wants to take you with him, too."

"What did you say to him?" asked the young woman, carefully.

"You will be happy to fight beside him."

The young woman did not know what she had to think or feel. On one side she was happy. Because Inquisitor gave her the opportunity to do what she always wanted. On the other side, she felt regret because of the miserable look of his beloved man. Slowly she came to the Commander and stood in front of him. She put one of her hand on his cheek. Cullen held this hand and kissed her pawn. It was evident that he was making great effort not to cry.

"If the Inquisitor is so sure that we will destroy Corypheus, then we will kill him." She said trying to smile.

Cullen hugged the young woman tightly. "I do not want to send you there alone. Promise me you will return to me."

Enaste looked directly in his eyes trying to hide her fear. "I promise you that I will do whatever it takes to survive," she said. "And I will not be alone, remember I will go with the best warriors."

Cullen did not let her go for a while. He was thinking that he was sending her to die with his own hands. His soul was filled with fear and worry.

  
  


 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally reached the end, the battle and the happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all kudos, reads, bookmarks and comments.

All the mages and warriors in Skyhold were ready at the entrance of the castle. Pharon was in the War Room. Enaste felt uneasy. She felt her pendant warmed up again like in the Arbor Wilds. A few minutes later she saw the sky darkened. A gigantic hole with flashings of green lightnings around appeared. It resembled a cyclone, but its size seemed to be the union of hundreds or even thousands of them. A strong wind began to flow. This is the new Breach that Corypheus opened between Fade and Thedas. As everyone looked at each other with puzzled eyes, she saw Pharon running out of the main building.

"To Temple of Sacred Ashes! Immediately!" Inquisitor yelled. Everyone rushed to their horses and headed for the temple. This was the place where Inquisitor and Corypheus had first met and where everything had started. Apparently the mage wanted everything to end also here.

Corypheus looked as horrible as the young woman imagined. There was a hateful expression on his deformed face. He did not look surprised to see warriors of Inquisition.

"Your false gods can not stop me now," he said with a strong voice. He had an orb shining with an ominous red light in his hand.

"When I become the only god, you will understand that I deserve it. Do you know what is in the City of the Gods? A big nothing. I witnessed this. But when I sit on the throne I deserve, you will have a real god.”

Pharon did not break his composure. "You can not prove anything by talking"

Actually the calmness in mage’s voice gave the clue about his next move, “So be it” he said.

He lifted his arms and the ground began to shake with strong tremors. Everyone was making great efforts to protect their balance. The temple began to rise into the air. They saw that only six people remained when the dust settled. Pharon, Cassandra, Iron Bull, Solas, Morrigan and Enaste.

She hoped that the rest of the people below were allright. Corypheus successfully had performed his tour de force. Pharon drew his sword and made his move towards Corypheus without losing his time. However, this move was left half finished when Corypheus' dragon appeared on the high walls of the temple. Corypheus laughed at the fearful faces of the party:

"I will leave you alone." he said and disappeared. When they saw him again he was behind the high walls with the dragon near him.

As the archdemon flew over them, another miraculous thing happened which surprised everyone. Morrigan took the form of a dragon, lifted off and attacked it. This had to be the help that Mythal had mentioned. Two giant creatures began a deadly fight in the sky. Pharon and others began to run towards Corypheus's location, knowing this was a good opportunity.

When they found the mage, Cassandra made a protection spell on the warriors. Enaste and Solas were shooting from a distance. They were constantly on the move to get rid of the fireballs and corruption spells that Corypheus made consecutively. Cassandra, Iron Bull and Pharon were about to outmanoeuvre the mage with their swords however Corypheus looked at the sky, laughed and disappeared again. The two dragons were falling from the sky rapidly holding eachother and fighting. They saw that Morrigan had injured the creature when they hit on the ground with a sound like thunder, but she had also been wounded. When she fell down, she lost her form and fell unconcious.

Fighting with Archdemon was not easy. The warriors fought against the dragon with their swords, to their last strenghth, thanks to Cassandra's protective magic. Enaste thought that her arrows might not be enough therefore she wanted Solas to make a protective spell on her then took Arrian's daggers. She ran close to creature. Since she was smaller and more agile, she could act like a shadow behind the dragon, and she was stabbing her daggers at every soft point she could see.

The dragon, injured by Morrigan, was angry at Enaste's actions. On one hand it was trying to catch the woman who was moving around it like a disturbing fly, on the other hand he was dealing with three warriors who made the stronger blows. After the minutes seemed like hours, Pharon was able to kill the creature by putting his sword in the neck of the exhausted dragon.

"Now we're alone," said Pharon, panting. Then he went after the mage without ever waiting.

At the top of the ruins, Corypheus was in a place surrounded by thick columns. He stood under the orb that was hanging in the air and emitting red lightnings. Whatever he was planning to do, he chose this spot. When he saw Pharon and his party, he murmured something then an energy wave spreaded out from him. Everyone hid behind the pillars just in time. Despite the protection spell, Enaste felt the intense heat of the energy wave that was passing through. When it calmed down, Pharon and the other warriors started running towards Corypheus.

Enaste stood at a point close to the orb. When the ancient darkspawn started to make another powerful spell, the young woman saw the orb’s light was faded slightly, apparently Corypheus had to draw energy from the orb for this spell. As the mage was struggling with the others, Enaste pointed her arrow and shot the orb. However what she had hoped did not happen. The young woman watched the mage making his spell in a great disappointment. What Enaste did not realize was that she had been able to weaken the spell which could tear the warriors into pieces despite of their protection. However Solas realized what she had done and he called her.

Enaste began to run rapidly passing the two large columns between Solas and her, and she felt that something very hot had passed behind her. A big fire ball missed the young woman.

She reached the column near Solas, the mage said. "Whatever you did, it worked."

Meanwhile, he was also trying to protect himself from the attacks of Corypheus. Although the young woman could not see the sphere clearly from where she was, she continued to shoot at every change of light. Corypheus was constantly teleporting away from the warriors. But he had confused that his spells did not show the effect that he wanted to see. The last time he changed his place, he got stuck in the corner.

For a moment he was surprised and turned his furious eyes to Solas. He thought he was the one who weakened his magic. He held up his hand and pulled the orb then held it towards Solas. Enaste saw that a red lightning came over Solas. She pushed him out of its way without thinking. Afterwards it was darkness.

Corypheus seemed to be trying to capture the sphere in his hand, something was going wrong. Darkspawn could not believe he was weakened by the Inquisitor. He called one of the Old Gods, Dumat, for help. When Pharon saw what had happened to Enaste from a distance, he held his hand with the mark angrily towards the orb and took it away from the hand of Corypheus.

The light of the orb changed color and turned to green. Inquisitor lifted it to the giant Breach in the sky waiting to destroy Thedas. A large light beam rose up to the center of the breach. The thunders and lightnings stopped along with the storm that had been caused by it. The light of the orb was completely out and dropped from Pharon’s hand.

Inquisitor turned to Corypheus, the mage had fallen on his knees with great exhaustion. It was apparent that he still could not believe what happened. Warrior frowned. "You wanted to go to the Fade, did not you?" he said, holding his marked hand towards Corypheus.

The darkspawn writhing in pain and disappeared in a green light. As the breach in the sky which had pulled everything to itself was closed, the giant rocks were released and started to fall down together with Temple of Sacred Ashes. Everyone tried to find a safe place to protect themselves from the falling debris. As before, Iron Bull lifted Enaste quickly and started to run.

When the temple landed on ground, Pharon looked around and realized his party was drifted apart. The others did not appear. Soon he saw Solas, who was watching the broken sphere standing on the ground with sadness, and went to him. In the face of victory, this reaction of Solas caught Pharon’s attention:

"I’m sorry about the orb," Pharon said in a slow voice.

"So am I," Solas murmured.

"But we defeated Corypheus, that’s the important thing, isn’t it?" Pharon curiously watched the sad expression in his friend's face.

"In fact, Inquisitor things should not have come this far. So much had been lost. I want you to know that I will always respect you as a friend."

Pharon surprised by these words sounded as a farewell. However, Solas did not give him a chance to say something.

"You can tell to others that Enaste's soul is not dead. I saw her soul was pulled from her body when she pushed me. I do not know who did this, but I think she is in the Fade. Mages of Skyhold can bring her back. "

Pharon heard the voice of his friends and the rest of the people, he turned to that direction. Then he looked back at Solas to say something and realized that he had already gone.

Some people gathered around Iron Bull. The Qunari, holding the lifeless body of the young woman, looked very sad.

When they entered to Skyhold, they were greeted by the crowd’s cries of victory. Leliana, Josephine and Cullen were waiting for them at the entrance of the castle. Iron Bull was carrying Enaste's body in quick steps, the Inquisition's mages Vivienne and Dorian were trying to catch up. They were trying to get to the young woman's room as soon as possible. After Pharon passed through the crowd and gave a brief salute to Leliana and Josephine, he leaned over Cullen's ear and whispered something. There was a sad and serious expression on his face. Cullen’s smile froze in his face. Then he left without saying anything.

As he was almost running to Enaste's room he saw Iron Bull. Qunari was looking down, going back to main hall. He did not look at the Commander. Cullen saw Dorian and Vivienne at the head of Enaste when he went into the room. He kneeled beside her bed without looking at them. He pushed a lock of hair back that had fallen on her face with his trembling hands. Then he saw the black veins that began to spread to her neck and face.

"What is it?" he asked in a voice that could be hardly heard. Dorian and Vivenne looked at eachother briefly.

Dorian:

"Corypheus had made a corruption spell," said slowly, "but before it her spirit had been pulled from her body."

"Speak clearly, mage!" The commander said angrily through his teeth.

Dorian was a necromancer so he knew the magic of corruption very well. Corypheus’ spell was also quite strong.

"When Corypheus made the spell, someone or something took Enaste's soul from her body. That's why the spell is now working extremely slow. We can save the body,"Dorian said with a calm voice. The two mages were looking at each other quietly and confusedly.

"What about her spirit?" Cullen asked.

"I am sure she is safe," Dorian replied. "Whoever took her spirit certainly did it with good intentions. Because the body and the spirit must coexist in order for this spell to work. Otherwise it loses its strenghth, as it is now. Vivenne and I will be able to cure the body. "

"Then?" He was increasingly impatient. Vivienne replied with her polite tone of voice.

"Then we have to wait for the spirit to return to her body, Commander." Her pretty eyes looked at the young man.

Dorian interrupted. "Do not worry, the Commander. Her spirit will surely return soon. But before that, we must focus on healing the body. If her spirit returns to this body she could suffer.”

Then he put his hand on Cullen's shoulder to comfort him. He stood up and went out of the room without saying anything.

Vivienne were turning the pages of her spell book with angry movements without looking at Dorian. She was looking for the correct spell.

"Her spirit will surely return soon?" She repeated Dorian’s words with a sullen manner.

"What should have I said?" Dorian responded nervously. At the same time he was looking for the necessary spell on his book. "If I did not say something, he would not come out of the room." Vivienne shook her head desperately. When they found the spell together they started to read the lines in a loud voice.

Enaste moaned and stood up. When she looked around, she realized that she was not in Thedas anymore. The pale green sky was covered in dark black clouds. She was standing on a hill. The soil full of stones was also black. There was a vast expanse of a barren land with high, spiky hills scattered randomly. On the horizon, she saw a large and splendid structure, she shuddered with the sound coming behind:

"Hello my child."

When she turned, she saw Varosa. She was wearing same dress on the day she died.

"Varosa?" her voice trembled with surprise and fear. There could be only place where she could meet her grandmother. Fade. She was dead. She realized that she did not feel anything physical. Pain, hot, cold ... nothing. However her feelings continued. She was very surprised and frightened.

"Enaste we took you here," Varosa said quietly, "There are important things we need to tell you"

Thousands of questions filled her mind. She could only ask one:

"Are the others here too?" She meant all her loved ones she had lost till now. Varosa frowned. Whenever she had run out of her patience, she had done so.

"Yes! Yes! "She said hastily," But it is forbidden to you to see them. The time of your soul here is very limited and you may not want to go back if you see them. That's not what we want. "

Enaste kept quiet however she was trying hard not to ask each question that appeared in her mind every second.

"When I found you, I knew it was no ordinary coincidence," Varosa began. "Then I came here with a hope of talking to the guiding spirits. They showed me a very dark future. I witnessed a devastation and a wreck that would bring the end of Thedas. And that's not the dark spawn. "

Enaste did not think she wanted to keep listening Varosa. The old woman came to her. When moving, Enaste noticed that her image was a semi-transparent silhouette. All her clothes and jewels were on her but looked like pale. Enaste looked at her hands and saw that her image was no different. Varosa took the pendant on Enaste’s neck and viewed it with thoughtful eyes.

"We could pull your spirit through your pendant," said the old woman. After a pause she continued "A great battle is coming, my child. It is a greater catastrophe than the destruction that had happened recently. "

Enaste's fear turned into horror.

"Is there a way to prevent this?" she asked.

"That's why you're here" said another voice. Then silhouette of another old woman appeared beside Varosa. Her gaze was much harder. Enaste thought that her yellow eyes did not seem strange to her. Varosa bowed her head with respect, stepped back and allowed the other old woman to approach Enaste.

"I think you believe in Mythal," the woman said, pointing her necklace with a slight hand gesture.

"I believe in Gods," said Enaste without hesitation.

"Would you believe if I told you I was Mythal?" the old woman asked. Enaste blinked her eyes in surprise. She did not know what to answer. The old woman gave her a pedant smile:

"You do not have to answer, my child," she said. "The only thing I want you to do is to help me with this catastrophe that your grandmother mentioned."

"But how?" She could not understand anything from vague words.

Mythal studied Enaste. No one knew that God Fen'Harel, who woke up from his long slumber, was in Thedas. They also did not know that Fen'Harel, who is known as a treacherous god among the Dalish, was her closest friend. Mythal was aware that he was trying to regain his strength, but she did not know what he was planning to do when he had it back.

Fen'Harel had always been full of secrets. The source of all the anguish suffered by the poor mortal souls so far was her old friend. If he had not given his orb to Corypheus, none of this would have happened. Mythal made a plan herself when she saw his mistake. Apparently, Fen'Harel was acting very hastily in order to regain his strength. When she met again with her old friend, she intended to hide her soul by transferring it to another body in any case. She had chosen Morrigan's son for this because the witch could hide it from Fen'Harel if she could hide his son from Mythal. But when Morrigan did not give her what she wanted, she had to think about something else.

She had to choose a longer path. She learned about Varosa and the prophecy from the spirits in the Fade. They, in fact, had the ability to see all possible futures, and Enaste was present in one of them. Because of her connection with Morrigan, she had seen Enaste fighting with Corypheus and believed that her plan would work with her. What she had to do was to transfer some part of her sould to Enaste, and keep the rest. She knew that Fen'Harel would start the next catastrophe, it would soon be out of control, and would not result in the way that her friend had predicted. All of Thedas and even Fade would be destroyed. So she had to stop her friend and Fen'Harel would not stay idle when he learned her intention.

The way to prevent Fen'Harel to learn her plans is to divide her soul into pieces and make it difficult to follow. It would be painful, but Mythal had decided it had to be done. Even she had to divide the soul into a few more pieces considering the young woman's situation.

Mythal answered Enaste’s question directly. Their time was running out:

"I will give you a piece of my soul. And you will share it with your child. But if you do not volunteer I can not do it."

The words that surprised her did not stop, Enaste asked in shock:

"My child?"

"Yes," Mythal said impatiently, "You carry the child of the warrior you are in love with. If I send you some of my soul, you will have to share it with him. If you value your loved ones that are still alive, you'll accept it. "

The aggressive, uncompromising attitude of the old woman scared Enaste. She was talking about a much greater responsibility than one could take as if nothing. Enaste's eyes met with Varosa's eyes, she saw for the first time the old woman was looking at her with begging eyes. She thought about Cullen and the baby that was growing up in her womb.

"Well," she said, "If my help would change something, I accept it."

"My child," Mythal said, "Your help will probably change the whole world." She smiled and took her hand to her heart and pulled out a blue light that was burning like a small fire in her palm.

Her face grimaced as she pulled it out of her body. She then put her hand on to Enaste's heart and made her soul penetrate into her. Enaste tried to watch the silhouette of her body as much as she could. Blue and bright light currents traveled from her heart to her arms, hands and feet. And there was a dazzling spark in her stomach.

"Thank you, my child," Varosa said with great gratitude.

Mythal did not speak. Enaste had to be sent back now. Her chances of being caught is getting increased every second here.

"Alright," said the old woman, "it is time for you to return now." This time she put her hand on Enaste’s forehead and she had a sudden feeling of falling from a very high place.

When she opened her eyes, she was laying in her own bed. She turned her head and saw Cullen. He had put his arms on the side of the bed. She could not see his face as it was resting downwards on his arms but he seemed like sleeping, since he was breathing deeply. Enaste was trying to figure out which one was real: here or the things she had just seen.

She took her trembling hand to Commander's head and stroked his yellow, wavy hair. When she felt the young man's hair and warmth in her hand, there was a deep gratifying in her eyes. Cullen was jumped up from his sleep because of her touch. When he saw Enaste smiling at him in the bed, he blinked for a moment. He was also stuck between reality and dream for a second.

"Hi," said Enaste with a smile.

Cullen smiled at her. There was a great happiness and gratitude on his face. 

"You have begun to make it a habit to scare me."

Enaste’s face was shaded for a moment, trying to remember something very important. 

"What happened? Are you okay? " Cullen asked in a worrying tone.

"Cullen I don’t know if it was a dream or not but I was in the Fade."

The commander frowned. He shook his head. "You were not dreaming, Enaste. Dorian said that your soul had been pulled from your body before being affected by the corruption magic."

"Is that so?" The young woman was very surprised. She certainly did not understand magic.

"Dorian and Vivienne succeeded in healing your body until your spirit returned. They said Corypheus' corruption spell would only work if body and spirit is together. Since your spirit was not in your body it did not affect you. As nobody knew how your soul had been pulled to Fade we had to wait for it to return to your body"

Enaste frowned. She was forcing her memory and trying to remember who had brought her to the Fade, but failed:

"Cullen I can not remember exactly what I saw in Fade since I woke up. It's like there is a strong barrier in my mind. All I remember that I saw someone I know - I think it was my grandmother - saying a great danger is coming. The rest is unclear. Also ... "

Her cheeks had blushed, and she could not figure out how to continue. "... Also she said that I was pregnant." She could not figure out how the commander would react to this information, so she watched the young man with timid eyes.

Cullen had difficulty to believe what he had just heard. He had not seen himself as a father even in his wildest dreams. Happiness, fear and worry filled his soul at the same time. He hugged Enaste without saying anything and her kissedher in a deep and wistful way. The young woman was astonished when he released her.

***

It's been only a month since Coryphesu's death. Everything in Skyhold was very stable. Presence of Inquisition continued in order to ensure the order in Thedas. Despite their intensive work, Pharon believed they were dealing with less serious issues. According to him, the war left its place to politics. The only place where politics was not spoken was the Commander's office. Cullen did not like such foot games either because he was a warrior like Pharon. Because of this, Pharon was often spending time in Cullen’s office. Together they were playing chess and chatting.

After Pharon made his move, he looked at the Commander. He looked very thoughtful.

"Is there a problem?" the warrior asked.

Cullen was rubbing his nape and examining the chess board. He did not tell even to Inquisitor that Enaste was expecting a baby. However he knew that her pregnancy would not remain hidden from the eyes after a while. He also knew Pharon could give him the best advice in this regard. This could be the right time to talk.

"Enaste ... is pregnant," said Commander. There was a serious expression on Pharon's face. He preferred to remain silent so that Cullen could continue his words.

"I ... I know we can not hide it for a long time. And I think of marrying Enaste, "he said shyly. "But I do not know how much we can hide in Skyhold that way."

"I can help you with marriage. Sister Giselle can unite you. She is very good at keeping secrets. We can trust her. Marriage ceremony can be made in my chamber. I think we should consider this far for now. And then we think about Enaste's pregnancy ... when the time comes. I'm sure we can find a way " Cullen thanked him with a gratifying expression.

A week later, Sister Giselle, Cullen and Enaste were in the Inquisitor's chamber with Pharon. The young woman had a long, white outfit with gold-colored ornaments on it. Cullen looked very handsome in his formal uniform. Two of them were in front of the priest. Cullen kissed Enaste after they exchanged their vows. When he left her lips, Pharon came to them. He was holding a wooden box in his hand. He opened it, Enaste saw two rings made of Onyx. As she was watching Pharon with surprised eyes, the warrior shrugged his shoulders:

"Do not look at me like that," he said in a cheerful voice, "The idea belonged to Cullen. We brought something new in Chantry’s marriage tradition. Your man has serious possession issues. I guess he wants to remember that you always belong to each other with the help of these rings.”

Cullen and Enaste put their rings on their hands while Sister Giselle was watching them with confused looks.

 


End file.
